I Just Want a Vacation
by funkmasterjo
Summary: Post MM: Link, finished with his deeds in Termina, continues his search for Navi. Feeling exhausted from his perpetual string of quests he resolves to find his friend and bail out on responsibility for a while. And, predictably, that's when Zelda shows up
1. Triangle 1

Disclaimer: I Don't own Legend of Zelda - any of them

Key:

------------ scene break. It could look like something else too. You'll be able to figure it out

"speech"

'quotations within speech/possibly something else later'

_stressing words/someone thinking/flashbacks -_ You'll be able to figure it out

**stressing words/some kind of echoing voice - You'll be able to figure it out**

stressing words/speaking in unision -You'll be able to figure it out

"people speaking at the same time" "but not the same words" "will simply have no filler between their quotation marks" - You'll be able to figure it out.

---

**A/N:**

_Some people don't like that my chapters are short but I use chapter separation to make a clear break between POVs and it just feels right. It's not like I don't upload multiple at a time or you can't review multiple at a time. I think the problem is that the word 'chapter' brings a feeling of a certain expected length and so it's like 'bam, false advertising'. So I'm going to just call them something totally irrelevant._

* * *

Triangle1 - Our Veteran Fairyless Hero

_ "The Deku Tree and the Goddesses love us. We are truly blessed. That is why our life is so wonderful Link. The outside is not as nice and kind a place."_

_"You really think so?"_

_"Yes, yes, of course! And I love you too. Now goodnight."_

_--_

_Blood. Puddle and ponds of blood forming before his eyes. As if it were rain from a bad dream, the red liquid fell and blanketed a sunless floor. A short ruby encrusted child's sword wallowed in it, along with it's staggering owner._

_"Navi. Navi why is this happening? When... why did the goddesses start to hate me like this? What did I do?"_

_"You didn't to anything Link – anything at all. They still love you. You're just... your a special child Link. You're their special child and they need you to do what others cannot. There is a bad man – a very bad man out here and if we don't stop him he'll come back and hurt our forest again. The Deku Tree lives on in the heart of the forest but even that is in danger. We can go home as soon as we're done."_

_"Really?"_

_"Really. Now let's move. Let's get these Gorons back their food supply."_

--

I woke with a start. The sky was a brilliant, free blue.

It mocks me.

--

I couldn't find Navi in All of Termina.

I mean, I scoured Hyrule so I was _sure_ she would be there.

I refuse to think that she's dead.

Here again in Hyrule... I guess I'll start my search all over.

I'll just follow my feet. Anywhere's as good as any.

---------------------

Castletown was just as I remembered it – with a minor exception. There was a kind of energy in the air that reminded me of Termina's festival. People were happy and exited to be alive, practically.

But why?

The answer struck me bodily.

"Watch it, squire. You – hey...."

I looked up at the soldier. Something was off about him.

"I know you. You're that kid that was always running around town. What're you doing out of Termina, kid?"

Too late, I placed the man as one of the city guards of clocktown. Termina had come to Hyrule.

This reeked of oddness. Which in turn, spoke of adventure. Scrambling like the horrified hero I was, I made a mad dash for the Temple of Time.

As I weaved through the populous and slipped through alleyways for good measure, I snatched one of the multitude of fliers around on the way.

I looked at the shiny piece of paper and I knew: this was going to be one of those days. "This is scrubcrap!"

They didn't have bulls in kokkiri forest.

In commemoration of our pact with our Terminan cousins, His Esteemed Majesty King Daphnes Hyrule IIV announces:

/FIELD #3!\

/TODAY AT 4PM!\

/COULD YOU BE THE ONE?\

/A SEARCH FOR THE HERO OF TIME!\

/THE GREATEST TOURNAMENT IN HYRULE!\

The Terminan royal family beseeches the Hero to prove his status through a trial of combat. The Hero shall be handsomely rewarded for acts of valour rendered for the Terminan people. Warriors are beseeched to partake, even if they do not consciously recall their status as Hero.

Ah, in the middle the words formed a triangle. Nice, but it looks like the authors just threw words together to make it fit. The whole flier was in bright neon purple and gold – colours of royalty. Below the dynamic text a pair of warriors with interlocked swords glared fiercely and below that was a loud proclamation of the rewards owed to the legendary hero – of which I didn't hold any interest in.

Oh hey, the one on the right was going to win. Only he had the feroci – wait what am I thinking? Despite the cold of the marble temple wall my heart was gripped by a much colder realization.

This was ridiculous. This was... this was just _blatant_. It had gotten to the point where people were _advertising_ for me. People didn't do things for free – not of this scale. There was _need_ within this paper.

I didn't want to be needed. I wanted to be left to rest.

I _deserved_ to be left to rest. I want my fairy. I want my forest. And I want at least a good solid year of boredom.

Then I don't know... I'll probably come out and save a few worlds for kicks again.

But I want my vacation first. I mean, I'd just _finished_ saving the world. How pathetic was it that it was in jepordy _again_?

An unusual feeling burned within me. A hot magma of frustration bubbled and raged such that I didn't think it was possible to contain within my current body. So I let it out in an incensed rant against the heavens, shaking my fist as I went.

"Why are you _doing_ this to me?! Haven't I had enough?! This is... this is Din's doing isn't it?! You squishy eating..."

It was one of the oddities of having three goddesses to chose from. People had their favourites... and their least favourites.

But I couldn't keep it up: anger at the gods. It was unnatural, it was silly. They didn't bother themselves with being involved in a person's life – they had left the world altogether. Saria had taught me that much.

It was the world I was mad at.

My dark and brooding thoughts were interrupted quite rudely. A soft melodic laugh was usually just the type of thing to banish such a mood, though mine was made of sterner stuff.

I happened to know that laugh. It was a particular kind of laugh, you see. It was neither annoying nor ignorable and altogether it was more pleasant and soothing and... refined than any mortal sound had the right to be.

It was the kind of laugh no one is born with.

The kind you have to practice in front of a teacher.

My heart filled with trepidation.

"Squishy eater? If my memory is true, then that... is a Goron insult, is it not?"

Of course _she_ would know.

My list of kokkiri insults were understandably limited. And when I was a grown-up... due to the lack of Hylians, I hadn't been able to capitalise on learning Hyliann ones either.

So I used Goron ones from time to time.

"Hello Zelda." I wasn't very pleased to see her, and I must have showed it because I soon felt the thin threat of a blade to my throat.

There were two figures I then realized. If Zelda was the smaller cloaked one then the one oppressing me, I assumed, would be Impa or some other Shiekan.

Only they and the Gerudo could ever have that kind of skill in Hyrule.

I would have loved to inquire who it was, but I don't think my throat would survive.

"That is enough Impa."

Ah, Impa then. The royal nanny stood down only after stealing my sword and shield. Wait, why take the shield?

"Sir Link of the Kokkiri is our friend. More so, it is impossible to understand the rules of formality of such an insulated culture. If we are to ask him forgiveness of our transgressions upon his way of life, then we would appear foolish if we withheld the same courtesy from them. And I rather think that drawing blades will get us noticed rather than not."

Wait, wait. Was that a kid talking? That?

I mean, I could maybe talk like that too if I wanted but I spent almost a year as a seventeen year old solving the problems of adults, half of another saving Termina, and I grew up in forest where everyone was like, a hundred years old.

Yes, they talked like kids. Because why not?

But when they wanted to sound smarter than you, as if jumping off the building with a cuckoo strapped to each leg was scientifically proven in all but fact, they could pull some words too absurd to be made up.

What was _her_ excuse?

I touched my throat, feeling for any trace of the blade. None. Yeah that was Impa. "You threatened me with a knife and then took my stuff. Should I call for the town watch?"

"You will receive it when we leave." Her eyes seemed to glow out from under her hood's shadow.

"May I ask how you recognized me, Sir Link?"

I wanted to correct her about my title – or lack of, rather – but I was too tired of the world. "Your laugh is really noticeable Zelda" I informed even as I looked aside. I should have hidden my disinterest in finding her here. I should have stood, faced her, bowed or kissed her hand or something I suppose. I was being very rude but I just didn't care. Well as long as Saria didn't find out...

Actually, this was better. Impa was emitting a low hiss – like a cat. Maybe if I kept it up she'd come at me again.

I'd get her in round 2.

Zelda's head tilted slightly in that oddly cute way she has when something has piqued her interest. I didn't have to see her face to picture her expression lighting up in intrigue and curiosity.

She wasn't the Zelda I ever knew. Not the Zelda 7 years from now, not Sheik, not even the young Zelda I'd known before who'd been troubled by nightmares and wrapped in the pull of destiny.

This one was sweet and untroubled – kind and innocent and fully illusioned by the world.

But it was still Zelda.

Under that pleasant mask was way too much focus and ferocity to be ignored.

I would cross swords with her guardian any day, but I was weary of crossing wits with the princess even as a child.

"I have a present for you Sir Link yet I find myself conflicted with the giving of it. You see I've arranged a meeting for you with a mutual friend of ours... but to see her leave our company would be quite regrettable."

"...Navi?" I surged to my feet. I didn't dare hope but what other friends, outside of the forest, did I even have? Everything was reset.

And there was this feeling – a familiar presence. How had I _missed_ it?

Passing, I noticed Impa come at me with the knife again, but it was negligible really. I was consumed by the need to know...

"Uh... um... hey Link" She peeked out from behind Zelda's still form, unusually shy. As she faced me, she must have found something in my face because she flew at me quickly and we had as much of an embrace as you could have between people of our sizes.

"Oh Link, you big dummy. How did you possibly look after yourself? I'm so glad you're in one peice."

Is she insulting me or greeting me? Well she's sniffling. I don't care – I'm doing it too. "Hey that's not fair. I looked everywhere for you, you know."

"You? What about _me_! I came to and you weren't anywhere to be found! You just disappeared and I couldn't tell where you were through our bond – just how far did you go?!"

"Oh put a nut in it" I laughed straight through my tears. It was that funny. Everything seemed funny. Everything seemed bright and vibrant and non-threatening. My quest was at an end – my _last_ quest was at an end. My companion returned, she seemed well, and we would now return home and bask in the non-action that we so richly deserved. If I could get the village to buy into the tales of my deeds that never happened there would even be a party!

Actually, they may buy into it for the express excuse of holding a party...

Sweet.

"How have you been Link? Are you... are you okay? I'm here for you. What's wrong?"

She kept pelting me with questions but I was alright. Everything would be fine now but when I told her this she remained sceptical and I suddenly recalled her weird hesitation in greeting me and even in revealing herself.

"Don't say that. It's not okay. I can tell, I can feel it." She held one glowing hand above her heart. "I've never felt such anger in you before – such darkness. Oh Link, what happened to you? You should let it out – let's talk. Um," she glanced behind at our spectators "we can go somewhere else if you want..."

Navi tried to lead me away but we were stopped short of course.

"Please excuse me. I know that this must be terribly bad timing but I was told we could meet and –."

I don't want to hear it – I really don't. I chuck her family's secret royal treasure at her in hopes that it will surprise her long enough for me to slip away but she took it in remarkable stride.

"Why thank you. Impa was beginning to fret that you wouldn't return it."

I stepped left to try and walk around her but she pleasantly shadowed my movements and behaved as if it was absolutely amusing that we kept almost bumping into each other

I paused. "But you were fine with it?"

"Oh, quite. The Kokkiri are really a remarkable tribe aren't they? As a knight of the forest, entrusted with the very sacred stone of your people, I trust you impeccably. Now... the matter is somewhat urgent."

_There_ we go. That's what she's after. "Sorry I'm busy. Don't have the time." I'm being rude. I don't care. I have to get out of here before she sends tells me about this month's unspeakable evil.

"Of course. You must be off to see the tournament, how rude of me. I shall accompany you."

She linked arms with me – Faroe but she's cunning! – and prepared to demand my attention in the nicest possible way.

However there was a terrible scream in the distance. It was far off, and so it wasn't so loud but the body of the scream – the depth of _tone_ – was one that I really didn't care for.

Because whatever was screaming was _big_.

Of course. She thinks I'm some great knight of the forest or something, and she wants me to slay a monster for her.

Thought it was something like that.

I go to yell at her but she's already gone – whisked out of danger by Impa I suppose.

Absently I yelled for the mother and child in the distance to get into the temple – they'd be safe there.

But what do I do with this? Another scream was heard and I found Navi buzzing in front of my face.

"Okay, wow. That thing: judging from the sound it would be _big_. And by comparing the two screams I can say its coming fast – I mean _really fast_. It must be flying. A giant bird, no. A dragon. The recent earthquakes might have released Volvagia's seal – it'd be alive unless you killed it after the reset. How do you want to do this?"

She's in full analysis mode. And it's really spectacular to see her at work. Tael was very good as well of course but Tael was a traveler. She knew things because she'd heard stories and seen them in her journeys.

Navi was of an entirely different degree.

"...Not our problem. It's over. I'm running away. Let the world save _itself_ for a change. Maybe then it'll get stronger in the end and I can get some more _rest_." I'm muttering darkly. But I'm actually very conflicted. I don't want anything to do with this, but I'd never signed up to be a hero for the _fun _of it - yet I always ran off to slay the monster. Was it really alright to just walk away? My feet were rooted to the spot. I trembled with energy that didn't know where to go and I almost sobbed at the injustice that was my life.

"...Oh" she doesn't protest. She's usually very strict with me about what is right and wrong but I suppose she can feel the massive frustration in me – the 'darkness' she'd sensed. "Okay, well they can handle it on their own."

Yes. Yes, of course they could. I quickly warmed to the idea. This wasn't my fight. The Master Sword did not sing to me. I had discovered that I didn't need to actually _draw _it to... hear isn't exactly the right word but its close.

I could sort of hear it when it demanded action and it was silent now. This had nothing to do with whatever role the Hero of Time played. I wasn't _needed_.

Navi fluttered around – her version of pacing. "Because of the tournament, all the strongest warriors of Hyrule have gathered. Not just knights and stuff but mercenaries, magicians, Gorons and Zoras of all kinds. There's all kinds of strong people here – they can take care of it."

If anyone could handle a dragon, I reasoned, it would be a Goron. I had felt their overwhelming strength for myself. The Goron's Hammer was unnecessary when your fists could do the same thing with just a little extra time.

The dragon screamed into view, whipping by us with great speed. Its massive bulk tore the air apart and whipped up hurricane winds.

I nearly lost my hat.

"That's... either not Volvagia or Gannondorf really changed it so that it'd do what he wanted back when we fought it."

We'd also fought it in a cavern. There was really no where for it to pick up speed without ramming into walls.

I still couldn't move. Forward or back: I couldn't go through with either decision and I was hateful of the world for putting me into this dilemma.

But on the next pass through the dragon swept the town in fire.

Now most people weren't even in their houses. They were at the tournament which would have soon started. But there was one woman who was caught in the edge of the dragon's burning breath. She stumbled towards me, probably seeking shelter in the temple, and collapsed.

Her cloth bundle stayed protectively cradled in her arms, shielded from the heat by the woman's own body as she clutched it possessively on the verge of death.

That did it for me. That... that struck a chord.

A hazy memory: darkness, movement, uncomfortable heat, and of a blurred, kind face.

And there was only one kind of package deserving of such supreme protection.

The baby's wailing seals the decision.

I must have wailed like that when I'd lost my mother.

Me and Navi are moving before I even notice. I don't know when I hat-swapped out for my custom made child-size Red Tunic (wasn't cheap) with some fairy magic conjuring, but I did. "Get some fairies to help you! Try to heal the mother but get the child to safety." I toss the stone of the forest to her – it should give her the authority to boss around who she needs to – and Navi's tiny form sinks to the ground under the weight. Nonetheless I get an 'okay!' from her

"I'll handle the dragon"

* * *

A/N:

Thanks to an early reviewer who pointed out the chapter repeated itself. Fixed.

This story was made because I was inspired by the awesome badassity of several zelda fanfics. They opened my eyes - link is one of the most amazing characters ever. Of all time. (Hah. Time joke)

Please Review.


	2. Triangle 2

Disclaimer: I Don't own Legend of Zelda - any of them

* * *

Triangle 2 - Volvagia?

My mind was clear. My course was set. My goal of the dragon's death was so consuming that I felt my previous feelings melt away – pushed into a lower priority as always.

I drew my hookshot and grappled to the roof of a nearby building. It wouldn't be enough, the dragon flew much higher than that, but it was a good vantage point.

The dragon flew past and I could see it spreading flames before itself.

It was a lot like an enormous snake actually. It even moved like one, except instead of slithering side-to-side it slithered up and down through the air.

Navi isn't here to spot for me, so I take five pot-shots after the beast's head before it escapes my range to get a feel for its movement. Only one connects, and bounces uselessly off of a scaled forehead, but it's a better rate than the Hyrule archers. Even as I turned my attention to outing what fires I could with selective use of Ice Arrows, I watched the Hyrule archer's handiwork. A giant swarm of arrows harried the dragon's hide as it flew away, but when it circled to face them the firing stopped. I suppose they ran for cover.

Stupid. Unless they struck the face – possibly an eye by chance – it didn't make sense to fire at all. Perhaps they, too, were adjusting their aim on the monster's hide but they were certainly taking their time.

I took a long time to aim as it's very hard to lead the shot of something like that without Navi to spot for me, but I landed an Ice Arrow between its eyes as it approaches.

Wow. I don't even think it felt that.

Navi reports in. "Link! She'll be okay!"

I can feel myself beam as I knock another arrow. Navi takes the silent que to spot for me and with agility and speed that simply had to be magic she zooms to the red dragon, glowing as a little guiding light in the location where the dragon's head _will be_ by the time my arrow reaches.

I land a Light Arrow in its right eye socket.

Or I would have, but the deku cursed creature simply changes its course and... dodges.

The Hylian encampment launches a last shot before the dragon leaves their and my range. Three rocks go sailing through the air via catapult.

Two outright miss on their own and the dragon dodges – dodges! – the last.

What is it, a Ninja Dragon?

"How does it _do_ that?!" I demand when Navi zooms back to me.

She's out of breath, even with her amazing speed keeping up with the dragon had been tough. "Well... Dragons are supremely magical creatures. I guess it can sense its surroundings and... well they're smart too. If it is volvagia then it'll have the experience to know how to dodge boulders at least."

Of all the annoying, ridiculous... ...

**_Fine_**.

It's _never_ easy, is it?!

I Hookshotted and ran after it, rocketing and leaping from rooftop to rooftop as fast as I could but slower than the beast. It became hard at times as some roofs, weakened by the blaze, would crumble on impact but I scrambled through.

It turned, but I noticed it didn't pass the town walls in its flight. In a great arc it came for another run of the town.

"Navi! Location!"

"Uh, it's coming a block to the left!"

As I landed at the specified area I had just enough time to start running madly. "Spot for me!"

"Spot _what?!_"

"I'm getting on!"

I heard a familiar, tiny groan of resignation. "That's so _stupid_!"

She flew off anyways though.

Now... the dragon had brushed off all the attacks that were pointless. Taking the role of an ant latching on to its back I wouldn't be noticed until I was too close for it to dodge me.

The problems were the dragon's speed and height

The first I could do a little about by running in the same direction, wishing I had the bunny hood or longer legs at least.

The later was Navi's job. She was amazing. She calculated movement like no one else I had ever encountered. As the snake slithered up and down, sections of its body would occasionally come into range of what I could jump to.

On Navi's directions I sped up, such that just as I was running out of roof a scarlet section of the beast whipped into view.

Of course at the time I had no choice but to grab the curved blade-like structures on its back and hope that they weren't as sharp as they looked.

Curses, I hadn't gotten on near the thing's head

There was nothing else to hold on to. It was even difficult to straddle. It really was like a huge snake.

The world pulled away as the beast's body heaved me up to the air, only to drop me back down again.

I would kill this dragon (again) or throw up trying.

Luckily the blade-like thing I held was really more like a fin and not that sharp. At our speed it was enough to begin cutting into my palm but the slice would be minor when it came.

The gilded sword wouldn't do it. I lacked anything with the raw brute, blunt force that the legendary Goron Hammer could produce. The Great Fairy Sword came the closest but I would have to use it without being dislodged.

If only I were a Goron now the strength at my very fingers could at least get this thing's attention. "Where are the Gorons?!"

Navi could sense and see objects and people much farther away than me. It's what, she claims, she was naturally designed for. An information-fairy. One of a kind.

"They're, uh, cowering!"

"They're **_what?!_**"

"I guess they really fear Volvagia!"

"Give me a break! The Zora?!"

"They... they don't like heat so they probably..."

**"Sonnova Scrub!**"

"Link! Volvagia's moving in a method pattern!"

"A what?!"

"It's sweeping the town! East to West!"

"So?!"

"It's easy to evacuate because you just feel like running west, where all the soldiers should be anyways, but it's just herding them so it won't miss any!"

"Okay! I get it! It's smart! We're **dekupaste**! I get it!"

"No!"

"Then what?!"

"On the next pass, it'll hit the Hospital!"

"I don't even need to be doing this! I have bigger problems than –"

"It's the Orphaned Children's Hospital!"

Oh, what? The Orphaned Children's Hospital? Not the orphaned children's hospital. Come on you have to be kidding me. Why is there even a hospital just for orphans to begin with?

"And the Vetenary Clinic for Injured but Loveable and Wanted Animals!"

"You made that one up!"

"Hey! I thought the name was stupid too, alright?!"

During this, I'd been trying in vain to find something else I could use atop this cursed snake. Some missing part in its armour, some loose scale...

If I could even _pry _one free that would be _something_.

But no good. And I doubted I had the magic for another light arrow in me even if that would help.

If I had the spare breath for it I would groan at the injustice of it all. The frustration. How useless these people apparently were and how it all seemed to come back to _me_ once more.

"I could just get off you know"

Navi, buzzing fretfully by my ear, seems startled by my statement

"Just hookshot off. I could even jump. It wouldn't be so hard if I did it right."

"..."

I entertain the idea for a moment, but I know why Navi doesn't feel the need to comment. We both know that's not how I want this to end.

The master sword did not compel me to act.

My triforce part wasn't even active. It did not compel me to act.

But the image of that burning mother and memory of that infant wailing...

I'm such an idiot... I'm...

I produce the hookshot again and attempt to steady my aim, such as could be hoped atop an undulating dragon, and fired.

I'm such a stupid **IDIOT!**

"Link, what're you...?"

It becomes clear enough to her though. The chain flies forwards, but there's nowhere for it to gain purchase. It waves fully extended briefly in the air – useless.

Then the dragon whipped its head up.

The chain, gaining a pivot (and a moving one in fact), fiercely swung around the cylindrical neck of my quarry. Thanks to the fin-like things upon its back stopping the wrapped chain from sliding down the dragon, I had a kind of leash on the beast. It would never restrain it, but would do for me.

"I – I don't know if I like that look, Link... are you..."

It's tough to endure Navi's protests but I have practice. I replace my hand's grasp of the hookshot by hooking my foot through the handle. I lock my other leg backwards into the curvature of the fin behind me so that between my too legs and with a great difficulty balancing, I felt... slightly less insane removing my arms from grasping the beast.

It actually worked fairly well. I half-thought I'd get thrown off right away.

On the next movement upwards I produced the Great Fairy Sword and swung down with all my might.

The act destroyed my balance of course and the great beast cried and writhed unnaturally, doubtlessly to shake the tick upon its back that seemed to have fangs after all, and I was dislodged.

I was flung from my seat, but not before getting a frantic grasp of the hookshot and so I flailed behind Volvagia, swinging by a chain, and as it made a sharp turn by the Hyrule ramparts I very nearly lost my head to a flagpole.

"Link! Rretract the chain!"

I finger the button and am soon zooming back. I can see the point of bleeding. The Great Fairy Sword had cut through its scales but the wound is not meaningfully deep.

But I could change that.

The gilded sword jerks free of its scabbard with a little difficulty as I speedily reel myself to my enemy. I line up the stab and...

Volvagia gave a mighty scream of pain. Now that sound brought me back. Like music to my ears.

I now have a nice handhold in the sword I've stabbed it with and Volvagia's twisting to throw me off only serves to dig the blade in deeper.

The dragon curves short of the army, obviously deeming me a greater threat than the Hyrule forces.

It speeds up, probably thinking that this will dislodge me instead, which is excellent.

I _let_ it think that. I pull the gilded sword gradually free myself to give the dragon the idea that its plan was working.

Because now it wasn't torching the city _or_ the various cutsey locations. It was barrelling south in a straight line as fast as possible.

The hookshot chain can't seem to take the pressure anymore.

That's bad. Whatever happens I really don't want it to –

_snap_

Of _course_.

I _really_ liked it too.

We're just about clear of the walls. I thrust the sword back in as deeply as possible and hold tight.

The dragon wails as I wiggle the blade about just by trying to stay on the stupid dragon. It is hard to communicate over the noise to my partner. "Spot for me!"

"Spot _where?!_"

"The mouth!"

"The... what?" she honestly sounded confused – that know-it-all Navi.

I wish I could bottle the moment for later fun, but the matter was serious.

This dragon had been allowed to carry on too long – no more. No more sweeping the town in fire. My fights had never been like this. Non-fighters had never been killed off with each passing second that I let the beast live. As I slip on the foreboding face of the Blast-Mask – appropriately covered with the sign of death – I repeat: "The mouth. Tell me when to jump."

The beast levels out under me, no more slithering up and down. It is simply trying to curve its body so that it may swallow me whole.

Why did it need to move up and down in the first place?

The dragon roars as it barrels towards me. I ready myself, drawing forth two unlit bombs in each arm. It's a lot easier to stay steady without the slithering. Navi, of course, fretted. "No. I don't like this. This – This is a bad idea Link. This is a really bad idea!"

"Give me some lead-time. Count-down!"

"You're nuts! This is nuts! What if it breaths fire on you – you'll just blow up?!**3!**"

"It won't! I think it has to rest its mouth in each pass or something!"

"You _think?_!** 2!** You idiot! This is a terrible Idea! A bad bad bad bad Idea! **1!**"

I ignore her, focussing everything I have into the upcoming moment. I get one shot. I do this well and under the great fairy's protection I may even survive.

Through the beady little holes for vision in the blast-mask I see the gaping maw approach and focus on Navi's fluttering form.

"I can't believe this! This is the worst idea ever! I can't _believe_ thiiiis! **NOW!**"

It's a shaky leap and as I hang in the air, waiting to be swallowed whole, time seems to slow down.

For a split second that feels way longer than it should I consider _not _pressing the hidden button in this mask with my chin.

The moment, like all of these moments that I have as I face down death, passes.

The darkness of Volvagia's mouth envelopes me and I hear huge jaws shut with a crack.

I just hope that I wake up after this.

_click_

boom

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Please Review


	3. Triangle 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but my ideas are mine

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Triangle 3 - Slumber Eternally

I... I think I just woke up. It's hard to say.

If I just rely on sight, then I'm unconscious – it's all black.

But I _smell_ as if I'm awake. There's a rancid burnt smell, like a mix between bleach and burnt meat.

As the sensation of feeling returns to me I decide that yes, I'm awake.

And that burnt smell is probably me.

I suppose the dragon didn't need to rest and could still breath fire after all.

Actually, I think I'm in Volvagia's stomach, being crushed by muscles and melted by acid. Luckily my mask is still on or my face would be stuffed full of stomach wall and I might have suffocated.

On the other hand the acid could set off the mask again at any moment. Maybe it had blown up and reformed already.

"Link! Link!"

My hearing has just returned and I already regret it.

"Link wake up! We have to get out of here!"

Forget it. I need some more sleep. The acid's not that bad. Anyways wake me up again when my mask is about to blow up.

"Link it's not _dead_ yet!"

Now _that_ brought forth an almighty groan from me.

"It's unconscious though. You've been out of it a while too. Come on! You have to get out of here. The stomach acid isn't that strong, but you'll run out of oxygen if you stay here! Come _on!_"

She pinches me... right in that spot exactly behind my right ear that always gets to me and I know that she won't let me just quietly die.

Meanie.

Well, getting serious now, the fact was that I really lacked energy.

I tried to kind of crawl backwards, because that was against the way the muscles around me were slowly pushing me. I think it was trying to swallow and digest me at the same time... in its sleep.

Gross.

It hurts. Everywhere hurts. And I am so _tired_. But by focusing on Navi's voice and keeping my mind otherwise occupied I endure the grind and slowly make my way to the mouth.

"Come on Link! You can do it!"

The muscles are slimy. And it's a slime that is icky and faintly bothers my skin - like bleach. The muscles are smooth and sinewy. Between the smooth and the slime and crawling _backwards_ of all things it was slow going.

Perhaps it was that its meal was coming back up it's throat/stomach that woke Volvagia or perhaps its because I kicked it's tonsil by accident when I made it out of the oesophagus but anyways the thing was moving slowly and it's tongue was wiggling. It's groggy, I blearily realized. Well, it just woke up.

But enough of this. I wanted to sleep...

"You... stupid snake! Just DIE!"

... and this thing was getting in the way of that. One of us _had_ to go. And to the victor... goes the nap.

With a roar that thundered in my ears, but probably sounded more like a kitten to anyone else, I thrust the Great Fairy Sword into the roof of its mouth.

It screeched. It flailed. It spluttered fire on me in rage and with my tunic, magic and all, as damaged as it was... _that_ truly caused some damage.

But I held on out of total anger.

It shook and convulsed and I was by now drenched in a fountain of draconic blood. Of course it spluttered much more fire at me as well. But I had it right where I wanted. I had all but won.

And I think both me and the dragon realized that.

Volvagia's roar died off into a strangled whine and its mouth froze in an open position as the great beast stilled, as if in death he was inviting me to leave.

Ah, then it had some honor.

Indeed, to the victor goes the nap.

I stumbled out of the mouth and collapsed onto a cool grassy surface. Navi buzzed deafeningly and pinched lethally and so I drank the stupid bottle of whatever so that she'd let me have my deserved spoils.

The gift of unconsciousness had never felt so good.

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Please Review.

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	4. Triangle 4

isclaimer: I Don't own Legend of Zelda - any of them

Key:

------------ scene break. It could look like something else too. You'll be able to figure it out

"speech"

'quotations within speech/possibly something else later'

_stressing words/someone thinking/flashbacks -_ You'll be able to figure it out

**stressing words/some kind of echoing voice - ie. kyuubi. You'll be able to figure it out**

stressing words/speaking in unision -You'll be able to figure it out

"people speaking at the same time" "but not the same words" "will simply have no filler between their quotation marks" - You'll be able to figure it out.

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Triangle 4 - She's a Tough Little Bundle of Nag

**_HelloOo!_**

...That's my catchphrase. It's that tilting, ringing, set of extra O's at the end that really gets their attention.

Navi the fairy. It's my job title.

I take a lot of pride in what I do. A lot of people would look down on what I do – even the other partner faries, which is odd – but its important work you know?

I know my ward isn't the most normal guy out there but he's sweet sometimes and we've been through a lot together.

I couldn't... I couldn't imagine what I'd do without him anymore. I often wish I could do more to help out but I'm so very small, being a fairy.

But I do what I can.

That's what I'm doing flying around town now. Link's fell straight into unconsciousness last night after finally finishing off volvagia... or what we think was volvagia. The more I think about it the less this all makes sense.

But anyway he's recovering. I found some trusted people look after him. He's in one of the undamaged Inn's on the East side of town.

He'll probably be fine in a few days. Honestly he's looked worse, but I was still really worried there for a bit.

Damage had just never _stuck_ to him like that before. I'd never seen him so tired either. I think it's because the triforce isn't active.

Or not. I don't know.

There's _so much_ I don't know.

And I _hate_ that.

Hey. I'm an information fairy, what can I say? It's in my calling. We forest folk don't run from our destiny.

Yes... I'm a so-called 'information fairy'. I like to think that I do a good job but it's hard to say.

There just aren't any other information faries around to compare myself to. I'm the first. Probably the last too.

Well. I'm the one that made up the name to begin with.

That's the thing: I was born with these weird abilities. I couldn't heal living beings or propagate plant life like my friends.

I could see farther. I could hear sharper. I could fly faster.

How useless was _that_?!

But Great Deku Tree said that I had been born like that for a specific purpose. That he felt the goddesses touch upon my life.

It would have been more moving if he didn't say that kind of thing to everyone and anything that moved.

Of course he felt the touch of the goddesses on my life! Life was Faroe's blessing! If we're alive then of course we have her touch upon us!

Anyways a... special training regime was put together for me.

When the other fairies apprenticed, or went to school, or just naturally knew what they were to do from birth I was in... boot camp.

And when I finished – graduated, I guess – there Link was. Just about ready for me.

The timing was uncanny. Sometimes I feel like...

Like he was made for me, or I was made for him I suppose.

I really need to talk to him – the moment he wakes up.

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A/N:

I think Navi gets a bum rep. I mean, yeah, she can get annoying in-game. But she can also be really helpful and I don't just mean z-targeting.

Please Review.


	5. Triangle 5

Disclaimer: I Don't own Legend of Zelda - any of them

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Triangle 5 - Dear Farore, There's Two of Them

I turned my head to the side and immediately regretted it.

Ugh. What's with those lights? Geez...

"Navi, what's the time?" What a pathetic groan that was.

"I'm afraid Miss Navi isn't present"

Oh crap, who was that? I felt out my surroundings.

I've woken up with my head stuffed into something soft – a pillow. I'm on a bed and it's clean but why face down?

And who _was_ that?

And where's my shirt? Hey wait.

...

Briefs: I think I'm wearing my briefs. I... yeah I am.

Ok, I'm good to go.

Actually they may be nice people. The last thing I recall is fainting after my row with Volvagia. She – for I recognized the voice as female at least – could be a kind passer-by.

Who am I kidding. I don't have that kind of luck.

A hand grabs my right shoulder over the covers. It's callused and the grip is loose but I don't appreciate the gesture.

I yell out something non-sensible about fudge, cows, and a Re-Dead. I just want to startle them.

I roll off the bed towards the mystery woman as quickly as possible, grasping the covers as I go and fall to the floor with a thump. I'm in a regular Hylian child's body now so the covers are twice my height and they create a sort of cocoon of me due to my rolling motion before I fall off the bed.

I was hiding in the covers from the scary strangers.

Ha! I sound almost normal.

There's a startled gasp. I ignore it. That's someone else – someone new. _She_ didn't sound too dangerous.

The original person unwraps my bundle of blankets purposefully.

Too bad, I'm not in there anymore. I'm under the bed now. The cold wooden floor on my back reminds me that maybe my burns aren't all healed yet. I suppress a hiss of pain.

Hey there are wooden beams here that support the mattress.

I can use that.

I finally see the face of my first mystery woman. She's not that old, and quite comely with her wavy chestnut hair.

But her hands had been callused and she's gripping a dagger as she peeks into my hiding spot.

I'm gripping the wooden beams and launch both bare feet into the shocked woman's face.

Critical damage _and_ stinky feet to the face.

That's like insult and injury at the same time. I'll have to remember that one.

The woman curses but reels her head back with the blow and rolls away from me into a shaky defensive crouch.

So she's a pro after all.

Go figure.

I slip out from the bottom of the bed and come face to face with knife-lady's accomplice.

She's unarmed, and I don't see anything to mark her as a significant threat. So of course I do the proper thing and throw a punch at her.

She freezes. She looks like there's something she would want to do in response but there's hesitation and fear from the little tiny fist I send her way and she freezes. Okay.

Out of courtesy I stop myself.

So _she's_ not a fighter. Let's talk to her.

"So who are you two? Cutpurses?" the second I said it, I knew it was wrong. She was a far too well-kept young woman to be a cutpurse.

"Relma, get away from him!"

I turn to dagger-girl, who's pulled another dagger so that she's doubly armed. "Now let's all calm down..."

"You kicked me! In the face!"

Now hold on. That's not quite right. "I kicked you with my _bare feet_ in the face"

It's probably not good for negotiations that I'm so smug about it.

The pretty one lets out a deep, relieved, sigh. The tension was gone. I'd assessed them: no real threat. It seems they did the same.

"HellooOo!"

Oh, it's Navi. Of course she flies in through the window too late to do anything. "Link, you're awake! That's good. You got up faster than I thought. Are... hey what happened to Bell? Bell, you... oh." I don't have to see her beneath that glow to picture her sheepish face. "Uh, by the way Link they're on our side."

"A note would have been nice."

"Well... oops. At least no one got hurt"

There was a groan. "I think the demon monkey child broke my nose".

"Well... not seriously hurt."

The non-combatant smiled. "Pardon me but I don't believe we've been properly introduced?"

"Oh sorry. Link this is Relma and that's Bell. Bell, Relma, this is Link."

"Pleased to meet you."

"Bedamned brat."

Anyways I think I'll take a seat on the bed. Without the adrenaline rush of fear it's easy to feel drowsy again. Navi comes to light on my lap and I enjoy... I enjoy just having her there and knowing that she's safe. It's been so long since I could do even that. "Sisters?" They remind me of the twins in the forest. Mally and Filly didn't look the same (and comparing them was like night and day) but they kept the same shoulder-length wavy hairstyle and identical circular earrings.

Relma had red hair and Bell had brown.

Hey Relma – red. Bell – brown.

That was convenient.

"They're not sisters Link. They just come as a set. They're the Princess's handmaidens."

Oh that was just so stupid I had to comment on it. As if Zelda needed more knife-wielding women around.

"Oh no, they're with princess Lillian."

What in... What?! Dear Farore, there's two of them now?! "So is this Lillian anything... like Zelda?"

"Watch your mouth, Kokkiri. You must address her highness with the proper respect." Bell the knife-wielder thumbed the hilts of her tools of choice. The effect was lost on me – her other hand was holding a cloth to her bleeding nose. "You'd best remember with Her Highness Lillian or you won't _get _a warning."

"I don't know about getting involved with another princess..."

"Well I wanted to keep it discreet! Bell's her highness's bodyguard and Relma is her political adviser. They know how to keep secrets."

"But not from you?" Judging from Bell's shock and Relma's extreme concern, I don't think they expected that Navi knew that.

"Oh. Her highness told me. It came up in conversation. She's nice – you'd like her."

The redhead... so that would be Relma, sighed. "That Princess..."

"She's far too loose with secrets."

"So that's why brown-hair was so eager to pull a knife on me?"

"I was just being cautious"

"Me too" It wasn't my fault that my 'cautious' was more useful than hers. When you're running through a war-torn world with a mad ruler that doesn't care what happens as long as he gets to do what he wants... you find a lot of crime.

And it was amazing how many people thought that going after the clean-looking guy was safe as long as he was in bed.

"We would dearly like to discuss some things with the both of you." Relma, the negotiator, clasped her hands pleasantly before her.

Her pose and her smile. They were too a little too perfect. She was similar to Zelda that way.

I should be wary.

"However, we understand that you may have a lot of catching up to do. Would you perhaps like some privacy? Our matters can wait."

"YES!"

I hope we didn't sound too eager.

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A/N:

So yes, the last three were uploaded simultaneously. It just felt right to split them, as it serves to create a more thorough sense of separation and I kind of like that - especially with the POV changes.

Also, I could really use some feedback here people. I know Legend of Zelda is not the most popular fanfic category right now (much less post MM, since TP came out) so it's not like I'm exactly in it for the reviews and fame but I have no one in RL to comment on this - I could use some alternate points of view and constructive criticism. (But don't be jerks like that one guy I got this one time.)

Next time: the backstory you've all been waiting for will finally be here in chapter 6. It's a bad habit of mine that I picked up from an anime called The Melencholy of Suzimiya Haruhi


	6. Triangle 6

Disclaimer: I Don't own Legend of Zelda - any of them

A/N:

_Some people don't like that my chapters are short but I use chapter separation to make a clear break between POVs and it just feels right. It's not like I don't upload multiple at a time or you can't review multiple at a time. I think the problem is that the word 'chapter' brings a feeling of a certain expected length and so it's like 'bam, false advertising'. So I'm going to just call them something totally irrelevant.  
_

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Triangle 6 - A Little Heart to Heart

I see the pair to the door.

Navi sees them beyond.

Well, in a way. Not until she sees them disappear into the streets in the distance is she assured. She sweeps the room for magics as well.

Her need to be thorough unnerves me. Just what has gone on while I was asleep?

She floats before me for a moment and then in the softest, most tender tone I have heard in a very long time she asks me "are you okay?"

I roll my stiff shoulders and take a seat at the breakfast table "It's been a long time since only getting eaten could kill me. You were in that thing with me, are you okay? And what about the time where I couldn't find you? I think I know what happened – the Deku Tree had an idea – but you don't feel weird?"

"I haven't noticed anything odd about me... and for being inside the dragon? I'm fine. I hid inside your hat so of course the fire wasn't a big deal. The acid in that dragon was weak too, a lot like a snake's I guess. That explosion was a pain, but I managed. Hey, did I mention yet... what a totally _stupid_ idea that stunt was?"

"Don't ask me: I don't know. Did you really think I actually listened to you nag?" I scoff. I'm only half-joking too. "As if I didn't get hurt often enough?"

"Yeah, yeah. I can't believe I missed you, ya jerk. By the way I told them you were looking at the dragon's corpse when a wolfos attacked you. You killed it and that's where all the blood that covered you came from. They think the wolfos' body is gone because you uh, cleaned it up. Fairy magic made it disappear."

I see. Good one.

"Well, from what I could peice together I came back – I mean back to the past – at a different time."

"So you _weren't_ lost somewhere in the world – or swallowed by some animal. You were lost in_ time_. Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe Zelda wasn't such a good magician after all. Or maybe she wasn't supposed to use that orcarina. You're the only one I know with 'time' in your title after all. When I came to in the Temple and you weren't anywhere around I went to check out princess Zelda – but the timing was off. You'd already seen her for the orcarina and you were long gone. I figured you'd have to come back to return it so... I've been here for the past month. Then the Terminans showed up and kept asking questions about the forest. It got to the point where I eventually had to draw them a map."

"Because that's where the hole to their world is..."

"Right. They came here looking for you Link. Do you want the long story?"

"I don't even want the short one."

"Well they came to Hyrule right on the fringe of the Lost Woods – you know where the border of its magical field _just barely _stops and it turns into a _regular_ ancient, enchanted, mana-rich, super-monster infested forest? That's where they started from."

"Ow..."

"No kidding. They lost a quarter of their army"

"Huh..."

"It could have been a lot worse."

I sipped my tea. It was nice to just talk and not be shouting about which glowing weak spot I should stab to make the monster die. "I guess."

"Anyways I'd been hanging around Zelda. She's very interested in our magic and culture you know. She even wanted to open _trade _with the tribe – can you believe it? But I had a lot of fun in the Royal Library. There's just so much _knowledge_ there Link"

"Behold the mighty bookfairy. Truly fearsome, it is the bane of bookworms everywhere, as it keeps showing them up"

"You think you're funny. And you _are_ funny because, you see, you think you are but you're so _terribly_ wrong."

"Bah"

"Well anyways I wanted to be ready in case you'd gotten into trouble without me."

"Who... me?!"

"Oh don't give me that look. You totally got into trouble. When the Terminan's got here they came asking for you by _title_. They have a little crisis over there you know. A little mini-Gannon or something. They went to their guardians for help but they said they had no energy after stopping a moon – I still don't really understand that – and they pointed the Terminans your way. 'The Hero of Time... is indeed mighty. He could surely save you. Seek out his aid.' "

"Why those big, lazy... They did one thing Navi – _one thing._ They showed up and caught it – that's _all _they did. I thought they would actually help me _fight_ you know. I wasn't about to be picky either –some kind of magic enchantment or something would have been nice. You'd think maybe _one _of them could spare a hand and just sort of try and flick the guy. In fact, if they'd even _shaken _the moon a bit – just sort of jostle it around so that he'd possibly fall out– they could have saved me an _entire_ dungeoun."

"Wow. That sounds even _more _trouble than I thought you got into."

"It _was_ pretty bad. And anyways isn't Termina like, out of my jurisdiction or something?"

"Uh... where did you pick that one up?"

"'1001 Excuses for skipping work'. What, you thought I couldn't read? I'll take any chance to get myself out of this cycle of bugcrap. I want a vacation."

"You know, I don't know that I care for all the curses you're throwing around"

"What? I'm like, almost an adult or something."

"No you're not. You're eleven – wait, twelve– well... thirteen at most. One year on the first quest, eight months on the second, also adding up the months you spent looking for me in between – that was really sweet of you by the way – yeah you're about thirteen. And you were reset anyway so if we're talking biologically you're ... eleven? That might matter, I'm not sure."

"I still think the time I spent as an adult should count seven times more, because I was seven years older."

"Not _that _again. That's ridiculous Link."

"You're just being picky. Hey, if you count the years I was asleep that makes me 20, right?"

"No it does n – we're not doing this. You see this thing where you and I just keep going back and forth like little sprouts and we don't actually get anything done?! We're not doing that now..." She takes a deep breath and I suffer a pointed stare. "Back to the _important _stuff: No one came forwards claiming to be you for a while. When the actual figures they were willing to _pay _were released that changed. And anyways, _you _know the kind of things being near the lost woods does to normal people's memories. They figured the Hero of Time might not even _remember_ what he was at all. So they started a tournament – thought it would make things easy. If the Hero was such a tough guy then they'd just find the toughest guy out there."

"Well even if he didn't show up..."

"They'd get the next-best thing: the strongest fighters in Hyrule."

"Well, I can't listen to any more of this depressing stuff right now. We're all caught up on what actually _matters _to _us_. All I have to do is stay clear of that tournament._ S_o–"

"Link we're _not_ all cought up."

"What? Why not?"

"We haven't talked about what you've done. There was so much darkness in you before. You need to talk about it. You need to let it out."

What is it with girls and talking about your feelings? I swear it's like all Navi wants to do sometimes is yap, yap, yap, yap, and yap some more about all kinds of wierd and uncomfortable topics. "What do you mean? Anyways I _finally _found you and it's _totally_ vacation time _now_ – so there's nothing to be mad about. And I did let it out. I stabbed a giant dragon through the brain with my sword as I screamed for him to just die. I feel much better now."

"That's not what I'm _talking_ about Link."

"Well there's no darkness in me _now_"

"Yes there is!"

"... No there isn't"

"Yes there – Link I'm your fairy. I can tell."

"What? No you can't"

"Yes I... we're not doing this."

"Oh I think we _are_"

"No we're no – wait. You're side-tracking me"

"I disagree. That's ridiculous and you have no proof."

"That's not going to work the _fourth_ time, you idiot."

"Well... maybe it'll work the fifth time?"

"No it – would you stop it!?"

"Stop what?"

"Did you... did you, like, study up on how to be even _more_ insufferable? Did you read 1001 Ways to Avoid Talking About Your Feelings?!"

"..."

"**Are you serious?!**"

So what? You'd be surprised how useful that book has been to me. And it was on sale.

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A/N:

If Navi and Link are partners, then I got the feeling that their relationship should be something like this. They've been through a lot so they should know each other really well. Because in the kokkiri forest the faeries are partnered with kids that stay young forever, they should be kind of mother-hen-ish too.

Please Review.


	7. Triangle 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but my ideas are mine

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Triangle 7 - Green, the Color that _Gets it Done._

The flowers are absolutely gorgeous in spring.

As I sit here in the midst of my quaint private garden I am struck for the first time how very _green_ it all is.

That should be no surprise. For all that the beauty that a rosy petal portrays, underneath the flowers the foundations are all green.

And it is they, I suppose, which support the whole exterior. For all that we overlook the stems and leaves, for all that my dear gardeners do their best to cover it up with a rainbow of colors and fragrances they remain a fact of life.

And for all that it is _hidden_ it is so predominant that simply _anyone _could tell me that my garden is, actually, _mostly_ green.

All that was required was the desire to _look_.

And it is such a vibrant green. It reminds me ever so much of Sir Link's apparel. It was the kind of green that was somehow more than itself. It was more than any color ought to be, on its own.

It was, I suppose, the context that made it such. The knowledge that the object represented such a thing of _life_ made its appearance all the more splendorous.

Sir Link was like that. He embodied that feeling. There was a feeling of simple yet purposed existence, much like the stems of my flowers.

A flower's sole purpose is, of course, to be beautiful. The romantics of the kingdom have claimed that those flowers that are not appreciated soon wither. It is a tragic but beautiful concept.

But the stems, I'm sure, care not lick weather they are appreciated or not and I am confident that our under-appreciation of them affects them not at all.

How I have underestimated my garden all these years. Praise be to the unnoticed green – it is to their efforts that we owe our joy.

"Zelda, you'll have to cut this short."

Oh. Impa. Her timing couldn't be worse. "I have not been here but for a quarter-hour and feel I must protest quite bitterly. I am quite enjoying the scenery."

There is a thin smile. "I understand, highness, but the issue is somewhat critical."

It was surprising to me how much _was_ critical, of late. Ever since Termina had arrived I had been placed in quite the spot.

For my ninth birthday I recall my father offering me a pair of personal handmaidens, that my face would be yet more radiant - I'd begged him for a pair of personal researchers instead, that my mind could be more full.

He'd consented amidst a terrible laughing fit.

Magic and lore were my pastimes – ones that had been criticism thoroughly as both unladylike and unroyal like by my tutors. There was not yet a charm to search out the perfect suitor - nor a spell to ensure a fair rule and a level head for politics, after all.

But now, with an entire kingdom with demonstrated technology far in advancement of our own in jepordy and coming to our lands to seek out no less than our most treasured, mythical protector, my hobby seems to have returned dividends far in advance of the buy-in.

Because we, quite simply, had them over a barrel. "Of course you are right. Who needs me?"

"Her highness Princess Lillian"

"Oh! Why she would love these gardens – we can enjoy them together rathen than drag me away."

Impa nodded and left – presumably to bid her highness to join me.

Shortly Her Highness Princess Lillian, 'The Flower', enters and in so doing proves once and forever the suitability of her nickname – my entire garden is put to shame. She's only four years my senior but I should hope that when I reach fifteen my hair should be half as lustrous as her spectacular knee-length, chestnut locks. I should be very happy if my neck were half so thin and graceful, that my torso would be half as brief and my legs half so expressive, that my curves would be half so perfectly dainty, and above all else, that my countenance could be half so utterly pleasant to bask in.

In her presence all the flowers of the world are rendered superfluous.

After we exchange greetings I prepare to give a flattering and clever compliment (somehow comparing her to the garden I suppose) as is relatively standard given the circumstances. However princess Lillian surprises me and seats herself to tea at my dainty Zora-Made table (it's adorned with wave-like patterns of course) and interrupts me.

"There is a matter of mutual concern, I think, that we aught to discuss Miss Zelda. Only if it pleases you of course." She smiles brilliantly at me – full of innocence and intrigue. "Shall I tell you of it? I shall, shan't I? But you must promise me to keep it close to your heart." She leans forwards and her eyes positively illuminate with innocent glee. "It shall be our own secret."

As I seat myself I feel I cannot contain an observation. "That... that is terribly to-the-point, don't you think? Is that quite rude?" What am I doing? I have lost my wits. To subvert the idle chit-chat may be considered rude, but to overtly point such a thing out - and to my senior no less - is twice that. I am not forbidden much, relatively, as a princess.

I'm just forbidden to create international incidents.

"Oh. But we are such _dear friends_, aren't we? I think that such things are not wholly necessary between ones as familiar as ourselves." She grasps my hand in both of hers, leaning over the table to do so as she boldly and succinctly explains herself. She positively illuminates. "Don't you think?"

I've yet to know her a fortnight.

"I hope that I was not too forward in presumption. I cannot speak for _you _of course. Forgive me, that I did. I - I do see you as a very _close _friend, though."

The words are so honest. The tone is so innocent. The smile is so beaming. And she looks so very hopeful that it very nearly breaks my heart. What have I done to this unicorn of humanity?

It is almost painful to speak to this person. She is simply too pure for words. "P-Please, don't mind it. It is entirely my fault... friend." That... was quite awkward. But her highness appears overjoyed enough.

"Now it's about Sir Link"

Sir Link?!

It is as if a switch is flipped inside of me. I had thought I was attentive before but now I was obsessed.

Perhaps... perhaps there was something to Impa's paranoia of Sir Link.

I just cannot substantiate why he would make me feel this way.

* * *

A/N:

Don't ask me why Zelda theorizes about the inherent philosophical significance of colors and plant life - she just seemed like that kind of person to me.

If she has the Triforce of Wisdom then regardless of what the Triforce actually _does_, she herself should be born with an inclination for knowledge and lore.

Just like Link was born with an inclination to awesome.

Please Review.

* * *


	8. Triangle 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but my ideas are mine

* * *

Triangle 8 - The Middle Path_._

I missed my Hookshot somuch. I need money for repairs. And to resupply. And Maybe get my hands on a dagger or two. Bell and Impa seemed to like them. I must be missing something. With my stupid bleeding heart I'd donated excessively to the reconstruction effort of a local orphan loving church – It was a church of Farore, of course.

There had been little loss of life but there could be much more soon, according to Navi, if key areas were not rebuilt quickly.

But for today the energy of Castle Town was revived here. I and Navi would be swallowed by the crowd if we were on the street.

Parades had that sort of affect on a city.

So we're on the rooftops, observing the proceedings, and snacking on some grapes (I curse my love of sweet fruits – they're expensive here). But what a devious task to get here without being noticed – with the grapes intact, no less.

I missed my Hookshot _so much_.

"Hey, Navi. I've been thinking about the money problem."

"Hm? Ah, right." She's busy scouring the parade – looking for something in particular that she wants me to see or something.

"I was thinking I could do a street performance. Look" I reach into my hat, pretend to shuffle around in it, and pull out deku nuts that hadn't been there before.

"What? That's just kokkiri – or rather fairy magic. That's not a _show_. That's just the one trick!"

"But it's not a trick!" Doesn't she see? "It's real magic – that makes it better."

"No, no," she bobs her entire body side to side (a headshake equivalent) "Everyone knows about _real _magic. It's rare but there's nothing _intruiging _about it. With a trick you always wonder – how'd that happen? That's what makes it fun. Besides that's just the _one_ thing. That's not a _show_. What else can you do?"

I wrack my mind for the answer. "Well... there was this one freaky weird dance I tried in Termina..."

"You did _what?! _Wait, never mind all that. There! That's him. There in the frills."

I produce a looking-glass and proceed to be exhasperated. "Navi, I know how much you _love_ the _obvious_, but they're all in frills" There was some kind procession in there – like a fluffy person parade or something.

"No look. Just... just look. The one in the Frills."

As I scan the march I stop and do a double-take at one particular person.

Oh

In the _Frills_.

Like, with a capital "F". I'm pretty sure his frills had frills _on_ their frills – if that makes any sense.

And he was coloured like a fruit basket gone horribly, horribly, wrong.

Looking at him – I recalled the time where I popped one of Tingle's balloons and it had remained mostly intact. On the ground it was this giant, bulbous, dead thing. Like a jellyfish that got to close to the shoreline and was beached there.

His hat, if indeed that thing on his head was still called a hat, looked just like that.

But with a feather on the top.

What was absurd was that this was supposed to be a hard man. Seriously, that was a very tough guy if reports were to be believed. I couldn't say much about his skill of course. There was nothing particularly alarming in the way that he carried himself.

Except that he could stay calm in that outfit. But then perhaps that _was_ worth mentioning. _I_ certianally couldn't do that.

"His name is Sir Volfenzar of house Volfenzar."

"He's a fop Navi. A big fancy fop."

"Well apparently he's a big name around here. Fops are _in_, don't you know. And appearently, he's increadibly lucky. He's blessed with so much good fortune that he's been banned from every dice game from here to Lake Hylia. The _King_ likes him and the Volfenzar family is very highly honoured. He himself is one of the most decorated men in the force despite his age. _And_..."

Here she accentuated her speech, brandishing a toothpick quite handily before stabbing a grape to nibble on. "Apparently he's amongst the best with a sword in the King's domain."

That deserves applause. Her show I mean. We still don't know about this guy's ability with a sword.

The Gerudo didn't quite count amongst the 'King's Domain'.

If they were then _that_ would be impressive.

But I just didn't know anyone with a sword in Central Hyrule.

"So basically what I'm saying is: everything checks out. That's one bonafide, certified, pedigree Hero."

"Except he lied?"

"Except he lied."

"That thing on a string around his neck..."

"That's the gilded sword"

"And you say he..."

"He was the first one to the dragon's body while it was unconcious and he pulled the sword just in time for the main force to find him standing there with an odd sword covered in dragon blood."

"And they thought he killed it"

"Yeah"

"With... with the gilded sword."

"Uh-huh"

"What do they think he stabbed _into_? I stabbed that in near the middle; the sword isn't that long. Not compared to that huge... snake or dragon or whatever it was."

"Oh, well that's what makes it good you see. It's a _holy_ sword. The Goddesses answered his plea and struck the beast down with _their_ magical sword"

"...Well, which one?"

I just love it when Navi actually gets confused. "Huh?"

"A goddess came down and did it for him right? Which one?"

"What do you mean 'which one?'"

"Well was it Din or Faroe? You can't tell me that he thinks Nayru the Compassionate got all bloody cuz' he asked nice."

"Well, he never really said... but there was a blinding flash of light and –"

I gasp in shock and awe. What? "You mean – You mean he didn't see it for himself?!"

"Link..."

"But Navi, if he didn't _see_ the Goddess for _himself_ then how does he _know_?! How does he _even **know?**_ Maybe Biggoron was picking his teeth and when he spat out the toothpick it flew off of Death Mountain and he nailed the dragon by accident! You just never know!"

"Look I thought you didn't mind him stealing the stage?"

"I _don't _mind." Nothing makes shirking a responsibility which you may or may not have harder than being on stage. Sneaking out of weeding duty as a child taught me that if anything. "I think it's _great_ that he stole my stage – but this is stupid! That was the best he could come up with? The man has no imagination! How can you be a hero without any imagination? By Nayru, I feel embarrassed for this country. Bunch of prunefingers!"

"Gerudo insult?" Navi does this fluttering pattern that implies she's stifling a giggle. "Oddly appropriate."

"I kind of thought so."

"So what's the plan? Are we dropping the whole issue? Let the fake Hero of Time take on the Gannon-wannabe and just ditch off to the Everwest Mountains? Or do we get involved?"

I watch the procession. There are a lot of joyous faces there.

They adore him openly and a part of me yearns for that – hey, I'm only mortal.

But what saves me is that, with all the ancient ruins I've been to, I recognize the simple traps on sight.

The cost for that glory would be my freedom.

And I'm not _that_ dumb.

I'm positive that if I bribe them with enough candy, the kokkiri will throw me a parade that is awesome in its own way. "Do you have to ask? Let's go home. But first we need money for presents. Saria will _kill _me if I don't bring something for _every_one."

"Are you sure? They're going to have to go _into _the forest Link. It's not the Lost Woods but it's _practically_ attatched to it. They lost twenty five percent coming _out_. And that forest _wanted _them out. Can you imagine them marching back _in_?"

Way to rain on my parade Navi. Way to rain on my fire-cursed parade. "Didn't you say the Hylians were sending them backup? They have a _bigger _army than they _ever had._ And they have that bona-fide hero fop guy. And he has a _very nice_ sword now that I'm going to let him keep – until I steal it back later."

She tsk'es at me. I _hate_ it when she tsk'es at me. "Oh please, Link. You could march an army twice the size of that one and it wouldn't help. The forest will split them _up_, and then break them _down_. And that hero? Do you really think that even _you,_ with your _best _gear and on your _best _day, could just _force_ your way in? Because that's what they want to do."

"Yeah, okay. But you see I'm just a kid right now."

There is stunned disbelief – as if she doesn't recognize the clear advantage an adult holds.

"See, his legs are _longer_. That means he can _run away_ better."

"_Link_"

"And his outfit would probably _scare_ most of the weak monsters and look _too disgusting _to eat for the strong ones."

"**_Link!_**"

"Why are you always taking their side, anyway?"

"I'm not! I'm on _your _side – but who _are _you Link?"

That's a stupid question. I'm...

"You _used _to be someone full of justice. Someone who admired life and respected freedom."

Of _course_ I am. I'm a Kokiri – well I was _raised_ a kokiri. We're Farore people.

"And Link, if that's changed then it's fine – let's just go home. But if you're _still_ that person... If you _really _are, then you have to follow your heart. Remember what Saria said."

Not Saria again – she _always _brings up Saria.

And it _always _works.

"Saria's two hundred and sixty-three years old, Navi. She's smart, patient, and has a strong heart. I'm tired of acting one hundred and forty, when I'm only thirteen."

"Um," Navi hesitates, "You're twenty if you count the years you were asleep?"

Nice try.

"Look Link, all I'm saying is this just isn't like you. Just step back and look at the situation again. Figure out what you want, even if it seems impossible. Nothing's _impossible_ Link – just out of reach for now. That's _your _saying. I don't know _how _many times you've proved it. This is just another puzzle."

I breathe deeply and look skyward. I hadn't noticed how much I'd missed Navi's cheerleading.

And she was right, of course. I've been thinking that I had to give something up – _I'd _given up. You can't win that way.

And I did want my time off, but my heart can't just _ignore_ people dying with _total _futility. Their chance of getting through that forest was exactly zero.

I had some friends in Termina but now they've never met me. Does that make them less my friends? I don't know. Hey, Tatl remembers me...

I have to think this out. Don't be reckless...

Help me out Navi.

"I know you were really opposed to it, but there's always that offer Lillian's attendants gave us – they need a guide. Strictly speaking, that's no vacation but we could make it like a _working_ vacation. Bring some cards along, an orcarina..."

I consider it. "We're going that way anyways. It would solve the rupee problem..."

"Right, but..."

I nod. "There's a princess involved – two if Zelda tags along."

"You think she'll go?"

"Remember how naive and ready to save the world she was at that age? Two princesses. And if Zelda comes, Impa's right behind her."

Navi wavers, I can tell. "Now _there's _trouble. If there was a foolproof way to obscure your identity..."

"Not foolproof. There's this," I tap the back of my hand. "Zelda gave me the orcarina without blinking last time. She didn't worry about it while I had it, either. She has some kind of... connection with me, I think."

"Well..."

"I'll sell them my gear."

"Link?"

"That way I don't have to worry about being caught out. I'm nothing without my gear Navi. If I just have, like, one sword. And one shield. And a regular bow. And random everyday stuff. Then what can I kill? I can't show up someone that fits the Hero bill so well without magical gear. Even fire arrows would toast a normal bow before I could get a shot off. I'd seem pretty normal right?"

"I... guess. Comparatively. Yeah, if it's only to the portal to their world you should be okay. But – But you worked _hard_ for that stuff. And you _love _that hookshot."

"Er, no I'll keep that one."

"You really do love that... Watch it! Someone's coming."

"What, up here on the roof?!"

There is a voice, clipped like the whispering a dagger makes when you unsheathe it – but lower. "Yes. Quite."

I don't even need to turn around. "Oh. It's you."

"This is a spectacular vantage point. Well chosen."

I can't believe she actually just complimented me. "Pain to get up here though. Vault over from the bakery?"

Utter silence. Go figure.

"...Grappling hook and zipline, actually. From the hotel to the supermarket."

"Cheater." Though, to be honest, I would have used my hookshot if it were in one piece.

I missed it _so _much.

But the point is she's a ninja. Why is her method more tame than mine?

That's just sad.

"I had a delicate package with me."

"_You_ did?" I finally deem to face her. "Do you know how tough it is to roll out a fall like that with grapes in your – oh. _You're _here too." I'm surprised to find that smaller cloaked figure beside the expected larger cloaked figure.

"She's a junior of mine."

"That's Z-" I stop myself with only a little pinch from Navi. "Princess Zelda. I never heard of a delicate sheikan."

"Yes. Quite." Impa's voice is somewhat, somehow, less clipped than normal. Almost amused. "She has been neglectful of her training."

Zelda goes rigid – probably indignant.

I look back to the parade, losing interest in the two. "Hey, are you all right? You haven't pulled your knife on me yet – is all the... the _happiness_ going around in the air getting to your sinuses?"

There's a thump behind me.

_Snort._

Wha... snort? What? I turn around to find the smaller form on her knees, hands on her mouth and, and...

And snorting as she shook with not-quite-contained giggling delight.

It was single most unladylike sound I'd ever heard.

"You snort when you laugh? You snort when you laugh!" I don't really know why this is so groundbreaking... but it is to me. "Impa, she snorts when she laughs!"

"Occasionally. I was aware."

I turn to Navi. I simply must share this revelation. "Navi, are you hearing this? She's never done that before! It's totally different!"

"It's probably a lot funnier if you have to put up with Impa's dourness 24/7"

"Excuse me. But we came here with actual business to discuss with you, before you rendered my liege insensible"

"You know it wouldn't be so funny if it weren't true"

Impa's kind of fun in her own way. She's a woman of self-control of course, so when I taunt her she does this thing where she tries to look like a rock but I mean – that's how you _know_ you're getting to her.

"We came to add to your offer"

"Which offer?"

"Princess Lillian's advisor had made you an offer –correct? You were taking too long to accept"

"I don't know if I _will_ accept." Let her chew on _that_. I don't like how they've assumed that I won't say no.

I mean, I'm not saying no – but that's not the point. I could have.

If I wanted to.

"Precisely."

"...What?"

"We would remove your indecision"

A small bag lands with a thump before me. It's a purple pouch, embroidered with gold - colors of royalty.

When I pick it up its contents tinkle like shattered glass.

Wonder what's in... oh.

That's just like the Royal Family. Quality over quantity. I am almost blinded by the silver gems within.

"The Crown would like to contribute the sum of one thousand to your standing fee."

Wow.

And I was going to do it anyways.

* * *

A/N:

Please Review.

* * *


	9. Triangle 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but my ideas are mine

* * *

Triangle 9 - I Just Want a Working Vacation_._

The sky was blue, the birds chirped happily, and even a wannabe' kokkiri like me can tell that the green grass of the plains sang joyfully with life. If I'm really going to call this a working vacation then I should have my fishing rod out right now.

Yet I had to deal with this bunny-dropping stupid...

I turn to the messenger. "What do they want now? We're not even to the forest yet"

"Her Great Majesty, Princess Lillian, would seek attendance with you Sir Kokkiri"

I lived my life blissfully without real contact with fops up until two weeks ago, and now… now it seemed they just kept popping up. And how in all of Faroe's green earth did this messenger keep his frills clean while trekking through the mud and dust of Hyrule Field?

"She would see you immediately Sir" messenger man insisted

Of course I just reject him and of course he plays dumb.

"...Excuse me, sir?"

I shake my head and annunciate my denial very slowly– so that he won't be able to play the 'ignorant' card with me again.

"I don't... do – do you quite understand? Her Royal Highness... that is to say the Grand Jewel of Termina Herself... the Benevolent Lady of White... Her Esteemed Crystal Flower of House Terrin _herself_ would –"

"Like to see me?" Man, that was a lot of titles. I'd heard a lot of titles in my travels. Heck, _I _had a lot of titles, but wow.

"Well yes, she would see you immediately."

"I see."

"Wonderful! Then..." the man perfectly aligned his clothing... in joy?

"So no." I finish

"What?"

"I understand," slow annunciation time, again. "And no."

I dip my canteen into the river. I don't think this was the best place to stop. It's true that breaking camp near a river is convenient but we were practically atop the bank now.

There was no way for other animals to get at the cove and this was a prime drinking spot for all sorts of things – they were asking for trouble. But does anyone listen to me? Noooo, I'm just the _forest_ guide. I'm not the _plains_ guide.

"Sir. Sir, if I may say so, I don't think you quite understand what it is you are missing out on. Have you heard of Her Highness?"

"A little. Good things. I know that she's amazing and pretty." I wave dismissively hoping that he will, well, dismiss.

"Ah. But have you seen her? Have you laid eyes upon her likeness?"

"Is there a point?" I'm going to fish, I decide suddenly. I'm just going to carry on and fish, because he obviously intends to bore me into agreement – and I won't let him.

"Sir, if you had but laid eyes upon her portrait you would sing a very different tune indeed."

"Look. Let me tell _you_ something." What a load of bull. Because she was pretty, I was supposed to care? "I've met princesses _before_. I met the princess of the Zora Kingdom – here on the Hyrule side – and do you know what she did as she saw me?" It had been almost surreal not to be immediately glomped by her, at the time. Well, she'd never met me before the reset.

"Pray tell?"

"She told me to wrap myself in a blue breathing cloth – she didn't even have the nicety to have it sown into something I could wear! – and sent me to fetch her lost guardsman at the bottom of a giant underwater whirlpool."

"She did?!"

Navi echoed in with the guard. Why? This sort of thing shouldn't surprise her.

I mean, this was Ruto we were talking about. By Nayru, is that girl a brat when you first meet her. As she got to know you, she mellowed out drastically. She was a nice person in fact – because she was an upfront character. But at first? Woah.

And I spent about a year all together looking for her wherever I could.

In that time, it was amazing how much trouble I got into. Quest, quest, quest.

Do I have a sign on my head or something?

And I never got any leads on Navi that were worth anything – although that's what people promised.

Half were ignorant and the other half were liars

Curse them all.

"I met Princess Zelda too, and Princess Lillian's handmaidens – they all wanted something. Now I may get paid but that's not the point." Being at this Lillian's beck and call wasn't in the contract – I made _sure _to get Navi to _make sure_ that it wasn't.

"Sir. However..."

"Oh you don't _get it_!" I will educate this fop, I decide, and he will leave because he will be enlightened. "Do you – Do you know what a rose is?"

"Well of course."

"Right. You love them huh?"

"They are... well who doesn't like a good rose Sir?"

"Do you know what we do with it in Kokkiri Forest? When the stupid thing springs up in our garden we pluck it and chuck it out! It's a _weed!_ Dig it out and plant a potato or some other vegetable – they have flowers too!"

"But that's absurd... I have never heard such a thing as a man weeding a perfectly good rose from his garden."

"Why the shrub would I _keep_ a rose! It has thorns! It will prick you! Who wants that in their garden? If you play tag and you take a fall it'll cut you up and then _someone's_ going to start crying, and the whole day is ruined." Mido was especially prone to crying – not because he was in pain or anything. He was actually quite tough. But getting me in trouble and Saria's attention at the same time was like pollen to a bee, for him. "You can _eat_ a potato. It makes life _easier_. Roses? They are pretty, sure, but painful." I sigh. It's something I've pondered before. "Princesses are like that too. They are pretty, but with thorns. Well I've had enough of thorns – and my fill of pretty. So tell her to go find someone else to talk to."

There is an open-mouthed silence. A fop-gaping silence.

And of course it's interrupted.

"Dude can I, like, cut in on this convo for a sec'?" A Zora passerby greets and the fop messenger is momentarily startled – he looks to his own canteen wearily.

What? The Zora are clean. Did he think they _weren't _in the river?

They just swim quietly so they don't scare your fish away – not that we're even fishing.

Even though I _really_ want to.

It's Maiku. Not Termina's Maiku – he's dead. He's the Maiku on the Hyrule side. Some people were mirrored and some were not. Many were here but completely different.

Maiku was the guardsman I had helped save on Ruto's insistence, and he had a burning desire to bring the rush of true speed swimming to the other races of the world through something he calls 'surfing'. "You have my package?"

"Right here bra'. By the way I happen to agree with little-big-man's statement"

One of the many nicknames he made for me.

I will say this – he shares Termina-Maiku's creativity.

"Princesses are, generally speaking, a major pain in the rear ya' know – and I would know, ya? Tis' a burden of love to attend one."

"The money has nothing to do with it?" I ask, honestly curious. I mean, I'd always thought people like him and Impa and such were paid like, their own weight in gold, because they just do so many different things for their princesses.

"Well a bro's gotta eat, don't he?"

I unwrap the package. The contents, as expected, are drenched. Fine. A good sword and scabbard – ah, it comes free with just the right amount of resistance – a good blade will not care how wet or hot or cold it is.

"A superb weapon." It was Maiku's partner, Marno – coloured purple where his comrade was green. He was the serious of the bunch and the more fearsome for it. He could do things with that long spear of his that could impress anyone. If they both were here, where was the princess?

"Ah, worry not bro. We took sick-leave to deliver this. Her royal screechiness accompanies us not"

I don't even try to hide my relief. "How've you guys been?"

"The same." Marno's a guy of few words. That he hadn't ended it in one syllable is impressive. But his partner...

"Princess only got eaten once this week." He fluffs himself up, practically, with pride. "Really makin' some progress bro I tell ya'. Made it half way out Jabu Jabu before we even found her. I've been tellin' anyone that'll listen. I got like... I got like some serious teacherly pride thing goin' or something, ya know? It just tears me up."

I can only half-listen – absorbed in this blade as I am. I needed something to replace the Gilded Sword for now so I sent a message to the Gorons. I needed it delivered quickly so I asked the Zora's for help.

Of course all this wasn't cheap.

This sword... Just like the biggoron sword it was plain but functional. It was just like I asked but it was... it was...

"Poor fit." Marno observes.

Agreed. The balance is perfect and that's a very solid blade but it feels like wearing a shoe that is two sizes too large.

You can use it just fine, but running a race in it is not advised.

"They do excellent work, but perhaps you'd be better off coming to us if not the Hylians. We do delicate work well and our cooling process is superb. We find our own ways around the heat issue."

It's the most Marno's ever said to me at one time. I suppose its courtesy to a fellow warrior.

"No. I need it solid." You just can't stick a Zora blade into a charging dragon. "Extremely solid. All sorts of trouble come up when –"

A loud, piercing howl met my senses and was soon joined by others of it's like

Well, speak of the Evil.

As I dash towards the wagons I reflect on this. It didn't need to be this way – they had _asked _for this when they set camp right in the biggest water hole of Hyrule Field.

The South Wolfos Clan didn't need much of a reason to get into a fight, and we had just cut off their water supply.

I scale supply crates and perch atop a wooden wagon, to get a bead on the situation.

People would die this day.

That was way too many Wolfos to be handled safely. Even one would be too much for these troops judging from what I'd seen.

They could not match the ferocity of the Southern Plains Wolfos.

My bow is in my hands, the first arrow knocked.

"Link. Wait."

It's Marno. Does he intend to hurl his spear? "You would only obstruct them."

And what – pray tell...

Oh.

Just... wow.

The wolfos descend directly to their deaths.

"This... is called 'war'." Marno said. "Know you of it?"

"Not... this is..." I knew what war was, of course. It was an often talked of topic in future Hyrule. It was usually talked on favourably, in fact, by drunk veterans in the pubs.

Things like 'even war would be better than this life' or 'this isn't a war – with wars you could _fight back_'.

The wolfos charge and hurl themselves, snarling and massive but they met with a line of very stocky, very armored men with very large spears – three to a wolfos – and take them down easy-as-you please without a fuss.

One spear goes right, the other left, and one straight at the heart. They don't even thrust the poles most of the time– they just keep adjusting their aim to their target and the wolfs sort of skewers itself if it tries to lunge. The idea, I think, was to take advantage of the impatience Wolfos all have.

I drank the sight in like a glass of water.

Marno considered the battlefield. "Lightly armored, mounted scouts report the direction of the attack and then the armored troops meet the charge. Wolfos are indeed strong – but they lack true higher intelligence and all fight the same way."

"I've never seen them taken down this quickly. What power."

"In the forest, I imagine that you don't have war. It is an adult invention after all – and one that we frequently wish to uninvent. It is formalized power, with all the strengths and weaknesses of the Swarm in spring."

A Swarm? It's a Zora reference. That's deep.

There are human screams to answer the Wolfos howls. They may be all manner of messed up, but the Wolfos thrashed even with the heart pierced and in their death-thrashing bashed in helmets and breastplates.

I take aim and –

Ow! Din, that hurts! What's going on – I can't even move due to the sudden sharpness of the sensation - my body just freezes up. I fall with the pain. Adrenaline pumps and time seems to crawl, as it always seems to when you just are forced to be aware - quite rudely - that you're utterly screwed. What the blazes hit me?! Where's Navi? What's going – oh.

Sunnova scrub, I think it's the Alpha. And it looks like it's in the process of ripping my sword arm off.

The moment of 'oh-crap' passes and we go tumbling through the roof of the caravan.

* * *

A/N:

Next time, of course, is the action scene.

A bit rough but that's how it is, because it's a side-project.

Yet I think I update it faster than my main project - but then the chapters are shorter (well, the Triangles are shorter)

There isn't an actual POV change in the next triangle. I stopped it here simply to build suspense. It's not just about the current readers - I hope that future readers (who will be able to see what happens immediately) will also feel more suspense because separation by chapters does give a sharper sense of division. Having the moment at the end of a chapter just accents the moment, I think. The only way to find out for sure, though, is to try it out.


	10. Triangle 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but my ideas are mine.

* * *

Triangle 10 - The Comforting Sound of Silence_._

I'm falling?! No, don't fall!

Have to... get this guy off my shoulder, or at least get out from under him! Quickly! **Quickly!**

It's no good – there just isn't time. We hit the ground with a thump that does nothing but work against me. With the aid of momentum, jaws that encircle my entire upper arm sink their teeth in fully. Through the blistering pain, I write off the arm. There's no good way to get it out after they really sink in like that.

I try furiously to wrestle it off.

But it's the alpha.

Of one of the South Plains Wolfos clans.

The thing is like, twice times my height when on all fours? Eight times bigger on its hind legs? 30 times my weight?

I hate this trick. I'm getting repetitive with its use. And that I don't hear Navi screaming how stupid I'm being worries me. Where _is_ she?

The bomb I jam at the wolfos's face ignites.

We both roll from the force of the explosion. I'm left clutching my shredded shoulder and the alpha looks mildly irritated.

So Alpha = 1 arm, Me = mild irritation.

I'm doing a fantastic job so far.

Because of the amount of Mana in me, I'm pretty resistant to damage. My blood clots extremely quickly, the muscles are tougher than they should be, ect.

But all Alphas – the Southern plane Wolfos Alphas in particular – had more mana than your average kokkiri.

So the bomb really didn't do much.

I unclasp my sword and hold it in my off-hand (my sword arm is truly dead weight now) as we stare and gauge each other.

It snarls.

With a swing the scabbard flies free of it's sword and nails the wolf in the forehead and I flash my pearly-whites to accentuate the mocking.

And as the world slows down I consider the opponent.

I understood how the army could use their lances and their teamwork like that. It's the same lunge as always. The exact same.

I was just never desperate enough to take the opening.

Well quick inventory: I've lost my sword arm, my fairy, have given away my magical gear, and have nothing to hold a shield with – so yeah, I'm desperate enough.

As the wolfos makes that characteristic lunge, I go low and forward as quickly as I can.

I'm going to need as much momentum as I can get to do any damage with this sword.

Well it's good that it _is _Goron-made. Anything less might have shattered – it feels like I'm stabbing into solid marble. The beast roars – he doesn't even gurgle or grunt or anything –as I ram the Goron-made blade into his chest. So the question now is did it work? Nope. It's not that I miss his heart – he's just so disgustingly _big_. Because of this, too, his superior weight means that he bowls me over anyways.

It flails and crashes into things – I'm clawed at awkwardly because I'm underneath it now – and objects shatter which I don't intend to pay for later.

It's a real struggle to get my feet under me because there is just no way I can abandon this sword. It's the only one handed tool I think can damage this guy. Because I was bowled over I'm almost on my back, except the wolfos is so big that I'm neither on my back, nor on my feet, but some awkward frustrating place in-between. My wounded arm flails around lifelessly behind me as a very large canine thrashes about in a very small space.

Somehow, the unthinkable happens. In the frantic struggle, I had ended up on my feet, yes, but on my feet in front of the wolfos.

Here I am, arm at full extension, grip on my sword weakening, and so close to a head three times mine in size that it even has to tilt its nose down because its snout just can't fit between us.

Ah – as the Alpha rams me into something wooden that, obviously, gives way – it suddenly comes to me through a daze. I knew I had been forgetting something. Knew there must have been a reason I never just charged in under the wolfos when it jumped at me.

It was a really, really _stupid _thing to do.

The thing it slammed me into must be the wall because I go tumbling through it when the wood and my stubbornly stuck sword both finally yeild.

Shake it off. Shake it off.

By Naryu it's not easy to shake this kind of damage off. My ripped arm keeps clotting blood, but that wolfos slamming me into things keeps the wound fresh. My ears are ringing and my vision still hasn't cleared up – if it hits me now I'm done. That's it.

I'm very cross at Navi. What was she doing, letting me do something that unbelievably stupid?

Where **_was _**she?

That wolfos is just crazy. What massive damage resistance. What ferocity. Even removing the sword was a pain but I got it, thank Nayru. I almost don't believe it, but did it tighten it's muscles around it – as if it didn't want to let me have my sword back?

First Volvagia and now this thing. When did monsters get so bloody smart?!

Still, this sword was worth every green rupee I shelled out for it – and it wasn't so cumbersome once you got used to it.

It's so light, too – like it has suddenly come alive on its own. I don't know if it's the adrenaline, or some latent magic coming from somewhere –

Or – I don't believe it.

Or my hilt could be without a blade.

Yeah. Staring at the distinctive lack of anything pointy and sharp attatched to the thing in my hand I come to the awesome realization: having no actual sword might do it.

The blacksmith. That, that, that utter total…

Oh, I need a swearword. My life for a swear-word. A _real good _swear word.

I was so sure it was a good sword. That goron was a masterful swindler – if I survived I was was going to take him to town.

Wait, focus.

Drown out the unnecessary. There are others here – soldiers, now that we're out of the wagon. There is a general panic as they see the biggest wolfos they've probably ever laid eyes on slink out of a ruined wagon wall.

Ignore them all – I don't have time for them.

Go to your unhappy place, Link.

Your bloody, lonely, empty, ass-kicking unhappy place.

I reach for it, and it pulls away.

_Why can't I go to that place?!_ What's _wrong _with me?!

The wolfos hasn't pushed the fight. He seems to be reveling in his own victory. He imperiously stares down at me, quietly gloating about it. Because he's laden with Mana, his blood – like mine – clots like lightning and I don't think even a swordtip more than halfway to its heart is going to really slow it down much.

I can practically read its head. _I took your fang, kid_. _Now what?_

Why that cocky…

Now that it's sure that I know how much trouble I'm in, it's on me in an instant.

I reach for my shield and only with what literally amounts to years of practice do I bring it up in time.

I am still sent staggering backwards by the blow and there is a scraping sound that I don't really care for.

The Alpha bears down at me, snapping its jaws to devour.

I duck it and jump aside the next attempt – getting a good look at its pearly whites in the process.

My first thought after the narrow escape from being devoured is to use my new position to take make use of the bottom of my shield and jab out one of its eyes but no – I'd never get away with that. Not with this guy.

I leap back instead, so that I can re-think all this.

It leaps back, too, which means that it wants to charge me again.

I need a plan – no.

I need a proper weapon.

And I need a _break_. Without my Triforce active I'm getting so _fatigued_.

The soldiers around me finally enter the realm of things I actually pay attention to when they get off their buts and surround the wolfos.

I need to make the most of the distraction. Need a decent weapon but… no. The swords these people carry look too heavy for one-handed use. The grip would be all wrong too. The lances are right out.

And the metal wouldn't hold up against claws like that. Wouldn't Peirce either.

My vague suspicion is realized, when I return my attention to the wolfos and find it no worse for wear, but surrounded by a litter of blood and warped, shattered metal.

It wasn't even chasing down the fleeing armored troops.

It knows that they're not its concern. They can be cleaned up as he likes later.

When. Did. Wolfos. Get. So. **_SMART?!_**

So this is an Alpha!

Again I bring up my shield. Barely in time.

Kuh! This thing!

And I know as I lay here on the wooden wall of yet another wagon, debris digging into my back, bleeding from an arm that's been flung around too much to clot…

I can't do it…

Vainly, I reach for that place again – that lonely careless place in my mind where everything become so clear and all the pain feels so far away.

But I can't do it…

After everything, I don't meet my end in some ancient ruin or some desecrated castle. I die upon the wooden floor of a transportation vehicle.

I don't fall to an unstoppable evil but to a natural, meaningless squabble between two races.

And I know: this is right. This is how Heroes die – anywhere at all, except against the big bad guy. It is only the evil that we can never let kill us.

Sliced up and rammed through multiple walls by a creature just as alive as I am? That made sense. It was a creature just as angry as I would be if my water had been stolen and my people had been slaughtered that would kill me at last… this was right.

This was fair.

But what's this? A face? Don't tell me this blurred, blonde outline is something as cheesy as Nayru come to take me to heaven. Hah.

Wait.

That's all wrong. That face – what I can make out of it – it can't be her?

It - no.

Melly?

**No**. No, what are you doing out of the forest? Where's your sister? It isn't safe here.

Go back. Have Mido and Saria protect you.

Get out of here!

The floor is dipping - the wolfos? Move it!

Melly!

Melly: my friend. She and her sister had made my clothes, I was to understand, since I was a babe.

We ate cake together. We played tag. She had terrible nightmares about brustle sprouts and avocado. And when she laughed her right cheek had this really small dimple that she never stopped being embarrassed about.

But she had always laughed for _me_.

She screams and I'm there before I know it. I'm at that place in my mind where all I can hear is the wind and the _thump, thump, thump_ of a heartbeat.

Mine or my enemy's, I never knew.

I was there too, before the wolfos – ramming _it _for a change. And it seems so ludicrous that I could push it around at all but I had to get it away.

Away from Melly.

The wolfos rolls with me as much for its own benefit as mine. The wagon is meaningless to it. It's fight lies with me.

I find at last, through my blurred vision, a weapon.

That it could be called a weapon bordered on ludicrous. Maybe it was due to the state I had reached, or maybe it really _was _the delirium...

But at that moment, picking up a knight's damaged and discarded helmet, everything becomes crystal clear.

I knew the wolfos's weaknesses. I knew my weapon.

I could see how this would end.

_Thump, thump, thump._

I'm panting as hard as I've heard epona do, as I run pell-mell at the wolfos, giant yet usable helmet on my head.

Using the helmet, I hurl my own head at the beast like a bettering ram. The force should at least stun him.

But he's fast – unbelievably so. Instinct moves _faster_ than thought. He proves that as his jaws clamp down on the helmet.

But that thing's too big for me.

I can slip out of it with ease.

It's confused. Its mouth is full, but I've disappeared. Its ears are ringing from the crunching sound it itself makes as it chews up the metal and finds no blood of victory.

I'm below it with my shield out and with all the desperation musterable I slam it repeatedly into the protruding back of my broken off blade – hammering it the rest of the way home.

It sounds like thunder.

The broken blade is swallowed completely by bloodied fur and more progress is impossible. The chest shuddered in time with my blows – the entire body jerking in pain and overwhelming shock.

There is a fresh out-pour of blood, but not more than an artery's worth.

Still not enough.

And although a human would not have known how to react in time, Wolfos run on instinct.

But it was that instinct that would destroy him, as it had destroyed his fellows.

It allows me to define his choices – it was his weakness.

When it pulls back and comes to bite my head off, and I instead roll my left shoulder and fling a meaningless bloody limb at his face, he is compelled to rip in.

But he knows that it the wrong target. There I am, arm in his mouth, pain feeling so far away now as I calmly use the small bit of extra time to angle the lip of my shield perfectly with the wound before its heart.

My dead arm is still being victimized by its massive jaws as it gives a sudden, single, violent full-body jolt.

One massive eye rolls to look at me in the face, and it might just be the blood loss talking but I see disbelief there.

I had started this fight by stabbing my sword into its chest – it was the same move that would end it. I had braced the bottom edge of the shield against the end of the dethatched swordblade and used a knee strike to hammer the blade that little extra half-foot to its heart.

_Now_, the blood river flowed.

_Now, _he had lost.

But we _both_ knew it wasn't over. He could still make it a _tie_.

He growled. I sighed.

Reaching with my good hand, I stretched around and clung tightly to the fur behind his head. He would rage, now, to take me with him. I was too tired to put up more of a fight; my only hope was to stay too close for its claws and fangs to be effective.

I was in for a wild ride.

But Melly was safe.

--------

It lumbers groggily on all fours, a majestic giant even stained red.

I pant and even wheze – I've never actually done that before - and I struggle to stay standing.

It's over now. The once proud Souther Plains Wolfos clan laid a bloody mass upon Hyrule Feild.

Sadly the end of their legacy came with a whimper, not a roar. On the balance, the scores of wolfos had been mowed down by superior numbers and crude tactics.

But at least their Alpha had fought one-to-one. He died well.

And as I stare at its last expression I see bitterness and hatred. But underneath all the anger and hatred there is something common that is communicated to me. It doesn't translate well except:

_Good fight_

Yeah. I guess it was.

_Thump, thump, thu–_

Silence.

His, then.

* * *

A/N:

Wow. The action started out as like, a half page snip, but then looking at the events that would transpire afterward I deemed the length and form to be far too unimpressive for the event to be as significant as I need it to be. Also, Link deserves to have his awesome quota met properly. Though no one can possibly fill the bottomless potential of WIN he embodies, we must try.

So anyways, good triangle. I really like it. I don't know about you readers but I have, like, some serious authorly pride going on here. I've gotten _way _better at action scenes since I began my writing career (Hurricane Yoh was just sad). I don't really know about my ability with first-person writing but with more attention, maybe...

I contemplated just sort of leaving it there - abandon this stuff just as we were getting to the forest like 'Ascension' did, one of my favorite post MM fanfics (and it did actually inspire the general plot - I tread merrily down the path that author carved out into an exciting and woefully unexplored area of potential).

Then I thought: Nah. The second I get Link to hit Terminan soil again, I will have (even in only one respect) exeed one of the greatest Zelda fanfics of all time.

_Then _I'll discontinue (Joking. Seriously.)

I'll only discontinue if reviews stay this dry (Nah I'm just joking again. Really.)

Keep the triangles rolling, dammit.


	11. Triangle 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but my ideas are mine.

* * *

Triangle 11 - Lull_._

The downed wolfos lies behind me.

I am flat on my butt, staring at the clouds. My bleeding arm clots at last.

I breathe the fresh air (I know it's probably tainted with blood but it always _smells_ fresh after a life/death struggle) and lean back on my good hand – just sort of let it all sink in.

I'm still alive and I'm honestly surprised that that's the case. What a familiar feeling. It really brings me back.

"Is it dead?"

Well, I should hope so. If it isn't then we have a _serious_ problem. It's the ones that refuse to die that are the real... wait who was that?

I crane my neck around. Melly? My vision clears up and I can see more than just a vague blurred blob as I recover– that's not Melly, I realize.

Once everything is really back to 20/20 I have to turn back away from what I find immediately.

To catch my breath.

Wow.

What?

I check again and am again forced to look away, unable to take the sight in all at once.

It's just such a shock more than anything else.

"HelloOOo!"

Oh it's Navi. She's late. "You're _late_" I protest, more than a little annoyed. "That thing got the drop on me. I kind of expected you to be watching my back. I _needed _you. It _really _messed me up."

"Oh wow, Link. Look at you!"

I know! "I _know_" I stress. "What did I _just say?_"

"Your arm is just totally – totally... What are those patches? Is that all coagulated blood? You have like – like _holes _in your arm that _big_?"

"I was_ aware._" I insist.

"That's like – I mean you could fit a _tangerine _in one of those. Holy..."

"I can kind of _feel _it, actually. You don't have to tell _me_." Navi, pal, I love you but shut up about it. I've been messed up before, remember? We had an understanding.

**Don't rub it in.**

"I just – Sorry. I'm **_so_**sorry. Epona was attacked. I should have warned you before I flew off like that."

Epona? "_Is she all right?!_"

"Oh, don't worry. I tapped your Hatspace and dropped a few Deku Nuts to startle them. The troops finished the rest off with some casualties."

"I want to see her myself." I surge to my feet and – oh, okay. Whoo. That's not – that's not possible right now. I surge back to my ass on the ground. "Well I – can you bring her here?"

"It's – no, it's fine. She needs some rest. She's fine." Navi, icebreaker that she is, starts up another conversation. "That the Alpha?"

"Huh? Yeah. It was insane, let me tell you. I almost bit it there."

"Wh-What? _Here?_ From a _wolfos_?!"

Give me a break. Evil monsters might be huge and strong but they're so _stupid_ compared to these normal ones.

Navi 'hmm'es in thought to herself. "So he sought you out huh?"

"Yeah"

"I – I'm **so **sorry Link. I heard Epona and I just blanked. I should have said something…"

"We're... rusty" I admit. "Both of us." I stare at my shaking palms.

It had never been that hard to get into the fight before.

I've had more life/death moments than I can remember. I'd have to ask Navi about it. But I had never just... just made _peace _before.

Never even _thought_ about dying. Isn't that funny?

Navi shakes me out of my introspection. "I um – I ran into a hotspot on my way back and I thought there might be trouble so I brought along some help. Meet Hali."

I greet Hali gratefully. Pink as always.

"By Farore," Hali shudders as she inspects the wounds. Funny, they usually aren't squeamish. "How are you still alive?"

"I have a lot of practice."

"At being hurt?"

"At being still alive." I turned to Navi. "Navi, I saw Melly."

"Melly? Here?" she asked. "Was it, like, a hallucination?"

"No. Well," I consider, "maybe. But I could have sworn… can you just check on her – if she's here?"

"Link," Navi sighed, "if she were here she'd be dead."

**"_Don't say that_."**

"I – woah. Sorry. No, I just mean… I mean she's not here, Link. It's just impossible. Maybe you just mistook _her_ for Melly." Navi bobs towards my back.

"That thing behind me? Yeah, maybe." He had before his vision had cleared up. "What _is _that thing, Nav? It asked me if the wolfos was dead. I can't even look at it now. Do you think it's non-violent?" It had better be muddy non-violent. "Maybe an earth spirit. A Greater Fairy through an Avatar?"

"Uh, Link that's... that's Princess Lillian"

"That's human? That?"

"It's... I mean _she's_ a _her_ Link. And yes, no magic, full human one hundred percent."

"That's just..."

"She gets that kind of thing sometimes."

Well then she was shockingly nice to look at to the point of disbelief. Princess Lillian was the prettiest single person place or thing I had ever seen in my life. And I've seen some really pretty things. Future Zelda? That was beutiful. The Desert Collossus on a clear, windless day? Majestic. And the Zora underwater city in Termina was downright enchanting.

Lillian? Lillian topped them all.

And she was cradling the Woflos's horrific, dead, bloody (the blood on it's snout was mostly mine, in fact), massively fanged head.

I mean who could take that in all at once?

Oh Farore now she's signing to it.

It's a lullaby.

Half the camp is drenched with blood and she's singing it a lullaby.

"Aw, that's so sweet."

Has Navi lost it? Why am I the only one disturbed by this?

"Link why don't you go get patched up?"

Patched up? What's she talking about? Heli was patching me up just fine. I'm not _moving _from here untill she's _done _patching me up.

I – did she just shush me?

"Link. You don't look good. You're all bloody. There's a doctor outside for you."

Give me a break. . I've _got _a doctor right here. She's pink and winged and a heck of a lot better than a _normal _doctor. Yeah I'm all bloody, no kidding? I've seen worse. Not too often, but yeah. I'm not going to die – I'm just dead tired.

I don't need a doctor, I need Chicken Pot Pie or something.

And a bed.

Yessss.

"I really think you should go patch yourself up and rest – like, now."

Oops, there's that tone. Yeah, I'll save myself an epic-nag if I get ouf here.

* * *

A/N: Stopped here, because there's a POV transition here. Go on to the next chapter.

By the way, as for the cause of the hiatus this story was on (I don't even remember how long the hiatus was) well it was mostly just me not bothering to upload. I - yeah, I have about 8 chapters on my hardrive in advance for this story, that basically just need polish and proofing, and they're good to go.


	12. Triangle 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but my ideas are mine.

* * *

Triangle 12 - Fishy Business

Link lights a very small candle we found to give the room at least _some _light.

The events of this morning trouble me. The wolfos thing, yes. I'm _always _there for those edge moments – where we don't know if our number's finally come up. But that being said, it used to happen every other week so despite feeling that it's terribly wrong to be so blaise about the situation we both just shrug the event off. There isn't anything I can do about that. We learned very early on to learn from our mistakes and just push on. It's kept us alive up until now – we're going to have to stick to it.

Rather with what happened after.... we need to get our story straight. "Okay are we all set?"

"I... hang on.... Okay we're good."

"Then I, Navi the Information Fairy – The First"

Link rolls his eyes at my self-given title. Shut up Link.

"I call this 139nth secret meeting to order"

"Like you actually keep count."

I keep a _Journal Log_ of our meetings. It's just very small and I hide it in my glow so he doesn't notice it.

I'd never hear the end of it.

But yes, I was a very organized farie. I even knew his age before he did his Termina thing - down to the day, accounting for all the time hopping stuff- now it's all messed up.

That _really_ annoys me.

I'd better start. "So the first order of business..."

Of course he interrupts me. He _loves _to do that. "I want to talk about Lillian."

"What about her?" He's lucky I'm so patient and understanding or I'd lead him into a bottomless pit somewhere – well I'd do it a lot more than I already do it.

"How does she not creep you out?" he insists.

"Keep it down. Are you talking about the lullaby thing?"

"That's a big part of it. What's with that? A giant dead wolfos body and she sings to it – sings to it!"

"I think it was like a sending off. Like last rites. She's not a priestess or anything. She just wanted to help its soul to rest in eternal slumber – it was sweet." I insist. I really like the girl. Link would too, if he weren't such a prinfcess-a-phobic. "She did what she could."

"By singing a human lullaby song? You want a wolfos's spirit to rest in peace? Drench it in the blood of its enemies."

That was very true. "Well it's the thought that counts – and I wasn't about to tell her to slay her _you_ and feed the dead wolfos." We're getting sidetracked. "Listen can we get started on the real stuff?"

He's been more relaxed than I've seen him in a long time. He neither has that overflowing frustration from when I met him nor the unyielding focus of a guy out to save the world – and that's good.

But it's kind of annoying too. "So – Today. Today was..."

"Very interesting"

Way to interrupt, bonehead. I was going to say it was a disaster. "What do you mean?"

"This 'War thing', what do you know about it?"

"Not much. I never thought that kind of thing was important. I mean, how could we get those kinds of numbers on our side? The Kokkiri are less than 30 all together, and even in gannon-future it would have been undoable."

"It was amazing – even I can't take down that many wolfos with that kind of speed, so what in Faroe's name do they need a Hero for?"

"It _was_ impressive but people _died_ Linik and I mean – how do we feel about that?" I wonder if I should say it... "I mean I'm a fairy. To me it's just a bunch of wolfos killing hylians you know? It's not my people but you're..."

"A Kokkiri. I'm a Kokkiri."

"Link that's..." He can't just run from his heritage like this whenever it suits his fancy...

"It's true." He insists. "I'm a Kokkiri. I'm a Zora. I'm a Goron. I'm even a Deku Shrub"

I can't help but snigger – he glares at me.

Can I help it? He was a shrub of all things. A shrub.

"But I've always been a stranger where I went. I only have one home in the end."

"I guess so." Home is where the hear t is. And to an extent, home defined one's people.

Yes, more so than blood.

"And I'm seriously homesick." He points out, wistfully.

I know the feeling.

He continues on, while making vague gestures. "To me it's kind of the same. A bunch of Terminans are having trouble with a renegade, magic-juiced Terminan. And the army's going to handle him even better than I would, because they have my awesome gear without all the work, and they have War."

"So if it was a Kokkiri in trouble? Or a fairy?"

"Well that's just _personal_. Right?"

"I agree. Just checking. And, uh..." I bob towards his left hand.

"Well... I can't run from _that_. I'm not looking to get smitten or smitted or whatever it's called. I don't – I don't really want to say 'no' to the All-mother, you know? But I _can_ run from this Termina thing. I think... I think this is like the goddesses giving me a break. That's what mister fopsworth –"

"Volfenzar"

"Him. I think that's what he is. I think that's what this all is. They're giving me a vacation – can't you see? Marno said that fighting with War is like the Swarm."

"Like, of bees? Cicadas?"

"Jellyfish"

"Jelly... Jellyfish?" I hadn't seen that one coming

I think he might actually know more about Zora culture than me. Well he looped through a lot of time without me – it's not odd.

But it makes me _feel_ odd.

If I don't have the answers he needs then what am I?

I hate this feeling – I need more books.

"The Swarm is a cloud of Jellyfish that bust into Lake Hylia in spring – I saw it once. They number too high to count and each comes loaded with their own little poison tentacles. Like, they're pretty much every thing's nightmare in the water."

Hmm... "Everything though? How many are there?"

"Navi you can't even see the water for all the Jellyfish. When Marno says that fighting with War is like the Swarm he means it has that kind of overwhelming power and numbers on their side. They just float around and do whatever they like." He's excited. That's good. "The Swarm is the most dangerous thing in the water. Everything runs away from the swarm – except the Rainbow Cloud Fish. See, they're immune. And so the jellyfish become their playground."

"Oh..."

He snapped his fingers. "They can kill a whole clan of wolfos just like that but they can't take this one Gannondorf-knockoff? He's their fish."

Link. He's getting really exited about this. I see his eyes light up, even in the dim light, in that kind of way they do when the puzzle's been cracked – when the path to victory makes itself clear to him. This, I suddenly realize, is the kind of thing he'd been waiting for.

"I see. Let's empower them. If we can get that fish susceptible to poison, or give the jellyfish a new weapon we can have them clean up their own mess– is what you're saying?"

"Well I'm just saying there's no way _I'm_ going to clean it up."

Good point. "Back to earth though. The other matter: today was kind of a disaster."

"Huh?"

"Today. You fought an Alpha."

"It's the lack of gear that got me." Link admitted. "I _told _you. I was right, right? Without you to watch my back and my gear to shoot arrows of concentrated justice, I get my rear kicked. I mean, there was this one moment there… but I think it's all right. Wouldn't call it a _disaster_, it's just –"

Oh, he just doesn't get it. "No. It – you fought an Alpha." I stress. "On your own. You mistook the princess for Melly, Link. So guess who's wagon you were knocked into when that happened?! She _saw_ you do it."

"Oh"

"Yeah, so on the good side she was impressed. On the _bad_ side..."

"She was impressed?"

Bingo.

"We were noticed" he palms his face. "I'm an idiot."

"In a big way. She was there, the general was there, Zelda, Impa, even Mr. Fake-Hero. And you gave them _all_ a big show. _No one_ takes the Alpha one-on-one. That's like the _last_ thing you do to keep a low profile. There's nothing you could have done. That thing was probably ready to chase you to the end of the world. But did you have to go _solo _the stupid thing? Are you _serious?_"

"I didn't know they were there! I was focused on the stupid wolfos. And I was fading in and out!"

I sigh. This is what happens when we get separated. He's so used to having me be his eyes in the sky. I mean it's natural. I should have given him a heads up before I left – am I rusty? We're both rusty.

He grimaces. "You told me to leave and get 'patched up'..."

"While I tried to play it down"

He took a deep sigh and braced himself for the worst. He's good at that – and I don't know what to feel about it. He's had a lot of practice. "So... umm...don't freak out." He nods. Ugh. He's not going to like this. "I kind of told them you were a three hundred year old Kokkiri knight."

There is a look of total disbelief on his face. "I thought you said low profile? I liked that plan! Let's stick with that plan!"

"Look there wasn't much choice alright? Think about it! You're already high profile! I have to explain _why_ you can pull that stunt off without being sent by the goddesses. That connection is the _last_ thing we need. So now you're amazing – but you're _normal. _At least by 300 year old kokkiri knight standards. And they don't _know_ what _those_ standards _are_. And it _fits_."

He deals with it in a stellar fashion – it's to be expected. "What do they know about the Kokkiri?"

Oh no – don't put your 'game face on' Link. You don't need it. I don't _want_ you to need it. Annoy me all you want but at least have fun.

Goddesses he deserves a vacation.

"It's very vague and very, very _old_. The Kokkiri have been insulated for generations so I kind of think this is as good as we can get it. You're a 300 year old child, but also a warrior, adventurer, and etcetera. This should cover us... "

I know he can tell that I'm unsure of this plan too, but it's the best I have. "I don't really know how it's going to progress from here but I think we'll be fine if we just don't get separated and stick to the story."

* * *

A/N:

Chapter was a _little _dry. Can't help it. It's transition. The pause after the big fight-fest that came.

Favorite line: "Link rolls his eyes at my self-given title. Shut up Link." - I have _no _idea why this line tickles my fancy so much. It just does. Maybe it's the irony of Navi telling Link to shut up, or something, while properly fitting into my story. Or something. w/e.

Expect the next chapter whenever I get around to proofing the next chapter - adios.


	13. Triangle 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but my ideas are mine.

* * *

Triangle 13 -Give and Take

There isn't… really anything that I want.

And well, I guess that was just how I was raised.

Sometimes I meet people on my travels and they ask me, "Hey Link, how can you stand to be such a nice guy? Why are you so helpful? So selfless? And how can you stand to give things up for other people?"

It was simple.

I could because they were people.

The law of my village is to help out and be helped out. From when I was a helpless baby, it was eight years before I could even be a little helpful. But still, I was clothed during that time. I was fed. I was protected.

That was how the kokkiri lived. Give and take.

And I guess it was that… which Saria counted as one of the blessings she spoke of. Why our forest was so kind.

I have come to accept… that the outside world just doesn't work like that.

Yes…

I have come to accept.

"So do we have an accord?" Princess Lillian's woman asks me. Her name… Relma I believe. The bobby-haired redhed woman. The one that reminds me of Zelda.

"We…" Navi strains. "Erm…"

An 'accord'. Ridiculous. Give and take. That was how kokkiri lived. And that, hylians and terminals would say, was how they lived too.

But when to give? How to give?

They mixed power too much into their lives.

You can only give if you take, and you can only take if you give. _That_ was how they _really_ lived. Giving because you just wanted to give, or taking because you just needed to take… those were exceptions for them, not the rule.

And the worst was when they gave, and they thought that if they gave enough they could get anything back.

Even lives. Even freedom.

They called it 'principles of equity', and they cited it as Nayru's teaching.

But some things… some things just shouldn't be for sale.

"We don't – I'm sorry, you're just _not getting it_." Navi stressed. "_We don't care_. It's not a _matter_ of _rupees_. Or land. Or title. Or _anything_, really. This:" Navi indicated the large pile of gold and jewelry on the table, by fluttering around it. "it's nothing to us. Our village has like, one shop. And the guy there runs it only when and if it seems like it might be fun. "

Relma looks upset. Can she really not comprehend? "But _before_, you."

"We took that money because we needed repairs for..." Navi pauses. "Stuff." she finishes lamely, unable to say that a dragon had broken my beloved gear. "And to pay for our horse, trinkets, and food. That's it. That's all. The rest we just gave to the orphanage, what with the fire and all."

"You…" Relma blinked owlishly. "You did? All of that?"

Of course I did. They needed it more. So much more. So very much more. Give if you want, take if you need. _That's_ how kokkiri _lived._ Nowhere in there did we ever consider equity. My heart went out to the abandoned and the lost. Not weird, considering my own history. I would have forgone even the hookshot repairs and given them that money as well, but I might need it for the quest I find myself in.

I frown at the woman who expected too much. "We'll lead you to your world. And that's not something easy anyway. That's plenty, so let this bodyguard stuff go. Protect your princess yourself."

"But our _princess_!"

I sigh. "What about her? Just protect her, if you're going to protect her. You've got Impa and those other Shiekan she brought. Twelve or something."

"Fourteen." Navi corrects. "Exactly fourteen. Plus impa."

"That's a lot of Shiekan." I point out helpfully. "There's a lot of things you can do with that many Shiekan."

"There are… others?" Relma paled.

Oy, finding twelve out of fourteen might be great for me. But not finding any at all is an issue.

"All – All the same... No, _because _of that we _need _you _all the more_! Impa is not _ours. _And Impa is not _you _either. Where was _she _when the wolfos attacked? She had ran and _hid_ her _own _princess away and left _ours _unattended!"

"No. According to Navi, the hero and the general were there too."

"But they are not -!" A frustrated Relma stopped herself. "That just _isn't _the _same_. They are not such… such specialists as yourself – considering form where you hail and all. Empowered beasts are rather old hat for you, aren't they? Surely in your 300 years of life Sir Knight of the Forest? It was not Impa, nor the general, nor even the great Hero that slew the beast in the end. It was _you_! _You, _by _yourself_! We need_ you! _We _must _have _you, _and we will pay _whatever _the cost to procure you. Just tell me what you _want!_"

I'm done with this. I put my hands on the table and stand up to say my last words. "If you want to know what I want, then it's easy. I want free time and I want to spend it away from princesses. If you can pay me with that, then I'm all ears."

Relma opened her mouth, and closed it unable to say a thing.

"Right." I huff. "So see you later."

I stride purposefully – as purposefully as anyone can stride in a 10 year old body – out of the caravan. But then I remember that I should tell Relma that I want to help her side plan strategy against the badguy they're going to fight. Preferably in a princess-free environment.

This distraction causes me to bump into a very soft pillow – or wait, that's wrong.

That's no pillow, that's a girl.

Wow, she's soft. That's the kind of fluff that can only be accomplished by excessive frillery.

"Sir Link! I was looking for you."

I have bumped into the Terminan princess.

Amidst a scrambled huddle of individuals attempting to raise the fallen princess, I note that the girl has her hands clasped together protectively to her chest.

"Sir Link, you have to help these two poor things, please!" she cried. Rising from her posterior with (or rather, despite) exorbitant amounts of help.

I blink as she unfolds her hands.

Se… Seriously?

"Please help them," she begs, pushing the two dimly glowing faeries held gently in her palm towards me. "I found a few of the soldiers being forceful to them, and they do not look well at all. I cannot trust my men to see to them, and I thought that they could only count on you."

I take them and gingerly leave the caravan without a word.

It is quite a distance before I find a tuft of greenery far away from the Terminan/Hylian army. There, I find a concentration of mana that they could use to revitalize. They will heal themselves, after a while. What they suffer from, is a form of starvation.

Faeries could only give what they had. And what they gave was what kept them alive.

They wanted to leave after healing, because healing starved them. Soldiers and the like which captured healing faeries always kept them trapped away. Locked up or locked down.

But every now and then you get faeries like this.

Faeries were naturally good. Naturally kind.

And they had a terrible history of being exploited.

So most of them now understand that there are good people and bad people out there.

But some of them simply accept risk of their own death or imprisonment, for the sake of helping others.

Fools. Brave fools.

"Was it worth it?" I ask, as I place them upon a lillypad.

"Maybe not," they weakly answer, having been imprisoned and forced to heal beyond their capacity. "But even so, we did what we felt like doing."

I ponder their words as I begin my return walk to the army, and I knew them to be wise.

Farore values freedome above all else, and so do I.

But only when we choose what we want to, do we know that we are free. Only when we are true to ourselves, and not to our fears and concerns, are we free.

And so bravery and freedom walk hand in hand.

"Link?" Navi asks, tenderly. "That Lillian… she really is a good person, you know."

I want to deny such praise to any princess.

I want to dislike this new princess on principle.

But thoughts of those two faries stop me. Because if I treated Lillian in that way, I would take the coward's path. And that path cannot be free. "Yes." I admit. "She is a good person."

"She seems to respect nature as well."

"She does seem to, yes." I admit.

"Zelda… Zelda has fifteen sheikan with her. But Lillian only has an army. And an army has many holes in it's defence, doesn't it? Against monsters and magic, and such."

"And assassins." I add. "Assassins wouldn't have a very hard time doing their job."

"And… she is a good girl. Not a soldier, not a support staff member, and not a child of prophecy. She's just a girl caught up in her country's business."

I sigh.

"Yeah."

"What do you… want to do?"

It wasn't 'what do I have to do?', but 'what do I want to do?'. Probably a harder question.

No princesses. No princesses I told myself. Because honestly I feared them, in a way. So I had resolved to be as distant to them as possible.

But was that what I wanted?

Besides being a princess, she seemed to be a good person.

Not many would sing to a wolfos.

Nor rescue and release faeries.

In my days before the self-demanded 'working vacation'...

No, before I'd even left the forest...

If I had met her in the kokkiri village, I'd have kept her safe without a second thought.

Because she'd have probably been my friend.

I sigh.

Freedom from the outside world, and freedom from our own fears and concerns...

Courage. Have courage, child of Farore

My true feelings on the subject...

* * *

A/N: Merry Boxing Day everyone.


	14. Triangle 14

Disclaimer: I disclaim stuff.

* * *

Triangle 14 - Friends are Treasure Enough

I am… 'Princess Lillian'.

Crowned princess of the noble land of Terminia.

Before my father's passing at the hands of Avernel's spawn, he doted on me

My father, the king, loved my mother _very _much.

She was taken when I was very young, cruelly and quietly, by the west-wind pandemic.

That was shortly after my birth and my father has yet to recover.

My father was… not a man who deals well with loss. Nor with fear of loss.

I… wouldn't say that I have been imprisoned within the castle grounds. But my father would never let me go too far.

And never suffer discourtesy towards me.

But with only courtesy in my life…

I fear that I've never become truly close to anyone.

There are at least two people with me at all times. But both of them are at my beck and call.

'The Princess' is always attended

But Lillian is always alone.

It's been… 11 years…

I try to make friends. I really do.

Oh, how I long for it. Friends like those in my stories. The royal library has a million tales of friendship.

None of them match any relationship in my life.

I have fealty more than I can bare. Loyalty beyond what I can stand.

But not one person is a friend to me.

I am friends to others. I try to be. I try very hard, though I admit that my sheltered life has left me somewhat naive.

I thought that princess Zelda, being of equal social standing, would be my friend. To that end, I tried very hard to maker her so. She is not.

I am her friend, and say so, but I know the feeling is not returned.

Never returned…

I...

Oh. Oh dear.

I mustn't cry.

I…

Oh!

Sir Link appears, like a falling shadow.

When the army is at temporary halt, his silence is all the more pronounced.

It's startling, somehow, for even a warrior in the body of a child to be so very light on their feet...

As if he's walking on air.

Sir Link's appearance reminds me of something. Reminds me to count my blessings.

I have no right to self-pity when such charitable and brave souls as those faeries have their Samaritan acts so exploited.

My plight and theirs… should not even be compared.

Thinking of them, my nerves bundle. Oh, I hope that the two darlings are all right. They had saved many lives, and they had been mistreated for it.

Sir Link walks up to me and though he is a head shorter than I, I have no difficulty reminding myself that he is older than he seems.

Aside from his quietness, in his stride is none of the unavoidable awkwardness of youth.

"You're name's… Lillian, right?" he asks.

"Why… yes." I answer, somewhat lamely.

"I'm Link. Hi."

Oh dear! We've never been formally introduced! I hadn't thought of it, and embarrassingly I curtsy for him. "Yes. It is a pleasure, Sir kokkiri."

"Lillian, you saved the lives of a pair of faeries. And you did it because you wanted to. Did it freely. And from this point on… you are a friend to the faeries."

I gasp. "Really? Trully? That's wonderful!"

I don't understand what such an announcement or title means, but it sounds absolutely enchanting. It is exactly like something straight from a novel. In my excitement, I take his hands in mine and bounce in spot… just a little bit. A friend to the faeries, that seems like such a fantasy!

Sir Link sighs, but sees fit to favor my joy with a smile. "But the faeries are Farore people. Freedom first. It's up to each faerie if they're going to see you as a friend or not."

Okay! Why, maybe that's even better!

"But me, I…" Sir Link pauses, removes his hat, and runs a hand through his golden locks. "I… recognize you."

"Why thank you!" I curtsy again.

Sir Link deigns me with a wry smile. It is an odd, indulging smile, which is very odd to see on his young face.

"I kind of wish I didn't. But that would be a lie, and me giving in to my fears. I… couldn't hold my head up if I went back to the village a coward."

He takes both of my hands in his, and holds them up between us. He then says the most memorable words that I've ever heard in my young life. "But, well… A friend of my friend should be my friend. I believed that before I met you, and nothing but fear could make me change that belief. Fear I… cannot stand for. What I mean is, from now on…" he took a deep, steadying breath, as if to make a great leap into some body of cold water. "I want to try to be your friend. So just…let's be friends, okay?"

...

...

...!

Did he just...?

* * *

A/N: I had finished chapters through the forest and up until the army had almost reached Terminia, if you believe me. They all lacked polish though, so I reserved them. The cliche computer crashing thing happened though. Well, it was my laptop that crashed and housed all my stuff.

A word to the wise: laptops are really unreliable (even macs - don't be fooled.)

So from chapter 13 onwards, I've finally resolved to bite the bullet. I'm rewriting them, at my leisure.

I have a tendency to regret something or other from my works, and wish I could backlog the change. These stories are posted in a serial fashion, so of course I cannot. That was part of the reason that I backlogged so many for this story.

In this story, I've actually wished I could change lillian's age from 15 just down to 13 or 14. Alas, it is inscribed in digital rock back in ch 7.

But I've been burned so I won't hold back so much anymore.


	15. Triangle 15

Disclaimer: Do I really need to keep disclaiming the same stuff all the time?

* * *

Triangle 14 - His Name's Sir Volfenzar, of House Volfenzar.

Hmmm…

As I leave my new friend's caravan, I am filled with an odd tension.

Should I… have done that?

I ask Navi.

"It's not a matter of should or should not." She answers. "It's want or want not, right?"

She has a point there.

I have enough problems with others asking things of me. If even I start to hold back my own will, I'll be well and truly finished.

And it is not bad at all, to make new friends.

Outside of the forest, my friends amounted to just two: Navi and Epona.

So befriending Lillian is actually a pretty big deal for me.

Of course I use the term 'friend' loosely.

True friendship takes time.

But… I don't think I'll have any problems. She seemed to be ignorant in the best way.

No...

Naive.

Naïve is the word.

It's not a bad thing. Better to be clueless about the dirty parts of the world that are so taken for granted by others, than to be covered in it.

Yeah, I think we'll be friends all right.

...When she calms down a bit.

She fell into tears, for whatever reason.

She's become weepy and fretful, for whatever reason. And she's unable to talk.

It seemed they were not sad tears, but I seem to be the cause one way or another.

With that kind of anxiety, what am I? Her first friend?

Ha. No, that's silly.

…

Man, I hope she's not another fairy fanatic, like Tingle.

… Nah, one of those in the world is already the worst of luck.

Two would be the foreshadowing of the end of the world or the heralding of a terrible evil for me to kill.

Ah, knock on wood.

-Knock- -Knock-

Anyways, maybe my odd tension isn't about Lillian at all.

But the more dangerous of the princesses.

I've got an appointment with Zelda...

I've loaned most of my gear to the war effort. It's all part of the plan to keep questing demands down.

I've got to show these people that they don't _need_ a hero for these things.

Or at least that they don't need to _go find one_ all the time.

There's a hero right there, if they look inside a bit.

In everybody.

Princess Ruto would have never needed rescuing by anyone, if she'd been taught earlier how to _get up and walk _out of a giant fish (a task admittedly easier said than done).

But I'm getting sidetracked.

Zelda wants to see what my stuff does.

Which is probably nothing but an excuse to get me somewhere that she can interrogate me…

Here. I see it.

The lair of the beast.

Compared to the Terminian royal carriage, it isn't much to look at. It's size is simply large, instead of absurd.

But inside is a person that even the gods would call 'wise'.

And yes, that still counts when she's an 11 year old.

If she were only smart, then I could deal with her. If it's just smarts, you can still fool a person.

But wisdom is different.

Insight, precise decision-making, and the ability to pick up information that others would overlook.

These are just some of the facets of wisdom that I've seen in the few times I've met her 11 year old form.

But if I don't go to her, she'll come to me.

She's persistent enough to stick to a plan of running and hiding for seven straight years, after all.

… Well, let's get on with it.

"Ah, Sir Link. We were waiting on you."

While sitting on a small stack of books in front of a large wooden table, Zelda gives me a radiant smile. It is perhaps a bit less textbook perfect than usual and her head is tilted gently to the side.

Ah, head tilt.

Damn, she's in a curious mood.

She clasps her hands before her pleasantly. "We have _**so**_many things to ask you."

You do? Well that can't be good.

But 'we'?

Ah, there. Sitting atop one of the stacks of books that fill this caravan, to the point that they seem to function more as furnature than reading material, is a flamboyant man with a familiar multicolored, bulbous hat.

"Sir Fopperston!" I exclaim in surprise. "What're you doing here?"

Zelda's wide eyed expression is the first indicator I have that perhaps I've recalled the man's name wrong.

Her shakily restrained laughter pretty much concretes the idea.

"What…" the strange man whispers as he stands "…what did you call me?"

"I called you Sir Fopperston." I answer immediately.

For some reason, the truth seems to enrage him and he gets all straight-backed and fluffed up like some kind of wild cat.

"I am the Sir Hero!" he exclaims. "You silly little man!"

Hero…

There is something wrong in someone that clean – that stupidly dressed – claiming to be a hero.

There was nothing clean about being a hero. In truth it was one of the dirtiest jobs I knew of.

But someone had to do it.

But worse, how can he say it like that? Like it's… some kind of _award_?

Like being a Hero is something to… to _lord _over people?

Just what did he call 'Hero' anyway?

"_Link!_" Navi hisses in my ear. "_Link, behave! You're staring!_"

Ah. Ah, scrubpaste. I'm getting frosty.

Zelda's seems concerned. "Sir Kokkiri, is something not to your liking?"

Okay…what do I say to that?

"I don't like him." I indicate the vibrantly dressed, frilly man.

Zelda tilts her head to the side to an almost absurd degree. Crap.

"….I see." She says slowly. "Why?"

Well, I'm clever. I'm sure that all of the strange puzzle's I've overcome on my travels have prepared me for talking my way out of things like this.

I shrug. "Who knows?"

Zelda blinks rapidly.

Yeah, I've got nothing.

It's just amazing how little three years of travelling and dungeon crawling prepared me for awkward social situations.

"_Seriously, Link? Seriously?"_

Hey I didn't hear any useful ideas from _you, _partner.

"Why you insufferable little man!" the fake hero exclaims, drawing a surprisingly simple seeming sword from his scabbard.

Huzzah!

Something I'm good at!

"Let's take this outside." I suggest, back-flipping out of the caravan.

"Lead on!" Sir Whatever yells as he charges after me.

Navi groans aloud as I start bouncing on the balls of my feet, getting into rhythm.

We've discussed this last night, actually.

Discussed me getting into a fight with this guy, that is.

I've had too much attention on me lately. So what? How do I deal with that?

Well, look at this guy. He looks like the forbidden spawn of a union between a rainbow and a bowl of fruit.

He's like an attention _magnet_.

So I'm going to fight him, and I'm going to loose.

But how to loose? If it looks like I'm faking, then I'll just be more suspicious.

Luckily, that's no problem for me. I might not be able to talk my way out of much, but I really am pretty clever around a sword.

I've only shown them how I fight a wolfos, and I can admit that that was honestly a pretty stupid way to do it.

It should be reasonable for me to not have great strategy in fighting, especially against a hylian and an adult.

I come from the forest, after all.

And in terms of convincingly covering up my swordskills, well I've got an answer for that too.

Although I had shown my skills to a bunch of people back when I fought that wolfos, there was something special about that fight.

That is, the alpha had taken out my left arm before anything else had happened.

In other words… I had used my off-hand for both my sword and shield back then.

So… according to the one and only real fight that these people have seen me in... am I left handed or am I right handed?

Heh.

* * *

A/N:This one is dedicated to all the back to schoolers out there. I feel you. You are not alone. We're all in this together.

Oh, something really annoying happened to me lately.

Don't even get me started. Ahhh... I don't want to talk about it.

...

Okay, fine, I'll talk about it.

Since you insist.

Damn laptops. My little brother spilt so much soup on my laptop. No it's not all broken, but the keyboard is. Yes, I know I mentioned that my laptop had been broken. It broke a long time ago, and of course I replaced it with another laptop. Then that laptop had soup spilled on it.

Me, being a cheap and lazy guy, I don't want to buy a new keyboard and then install it. So I lost more WIP.

I have now resolved to just write everything on the university computers. Ever think about supporting this writer? Now you kind of do. Your taxes or your parent's taxes now help to subsidise the institution that houses the computer that I write on.

I know I said I would try not to hold onto them. Again, I was busy.

I know some reviewers were helpful and said 'hey, just back it up on something-or-other-dot-com'. I appreciate that.

Unfortunately, I am very lazy. Well, I quickly rewrote this chapter. I wasn't very happy with the others anyway. W/e. For those that follow Tsunade's Heir... sometime this month maybe. For various reasons, I Just Want A Vacation is just much easier to write.


	16. Triangle 16

Disclaimer: I disclaim it. I disclaim it all. Including responsibility for my actions.

* * *

Triangle 16 - Of Romance and Fop-Fu

This is… most disquieting.

"Impa? Are you there?" My princess asks.

I am always here, highness. I am your shadow. Ignorable, and invisible within a larger darkness, yet make no mistake – I am forever present.

"What do you think of this fight, Impa? The Sir Hero is doing very well."

This… fight.

The kokkiri's sword had broken in the last battle, and his shield was badly damaged.

With a flick of the wrist, that disquieting special magic of his had summoned a Deku-Stick for weaponry.

Such wood was naturally fragile, and now he was reduced to a quarter-stick.

"Impa? Well?"

Princess, it is disquieting.

"How so?"

The first is his skill. It does not mirror what I have seen from him.

The princess sighed. "Impa. It is very different to fight a wolfos and a man. Rather, there are no adults within his forest, and the kokkiri seldom leave. It was thought they couldn't leave at all. Besides which, we've never seen him swing a sword either."

I have not seen him swing a blade, but I have seen his choice in one. It was a fine design, and a highly customized weapon with a purposed investment in durability.

The fact that it broke was due to material cost-cutting, not to design specifications. He is a swordsmaster.

"He could very well have had someone else design it for him."

Unlikely, by the very fact that there is an understandably short supply of swordsmasters or forgers familiar with blades befitting the kokkiri's… stature.

But putting that aside, observe his behavior. Here, you see him sidestep a thrust that nicks his cheek and he flinches. Do you see? How he pulls back?

"Sir Volfenzar's swordplay is very fluid. It would have been perhaps too much to ask to press a counter just then."

No. It is reasonable. Perhaps unadvisable, but not unreasonable.

But I am not discussing his aptitude. I speak of attitude. There, Volfenzar overextends and the Kokkiri lands only two light hits before retreating.

"That's –"

His body tenses at just the right time to punish his opponent, but then he uncoils. Why?

"As I said, he is right to be cautious towards this new type of –"

Highness, they are the movements of a coward.

My princess freezes in place, as the gears turn within her head. "…Well _that_ is _extremely_ out of place."

Finally.

"…I've spoken to Navi at length during her stay at the castle. The Kokkiri do have a very advanced and deep understanding of the nature of 'Courage'. In the simplest terms, they see it as the strength to preserve internal freedom. His movements might seem cowardly to us, but unless his actions and beliefs fall out of sync he will see no 'cowardice'. For them, even the 'courage to seem like a coward' is fairly permissible."

…

"Well, Impa?"

I'm sure that I've nothing further to say, that your brilliant mind couldn't simply explain away, highness.

She frowns. "I take rather deep offense to that."

You _persist _in covering for this one.

"Did you ever think that perhaps you are simply too critical? It is not appropriate to scrutinize an ally."

It _is_! _Particularly_ for you!

You have _always _scrutinized others. You scrutinize_ me_. You scrutinize your _father_, the _king_! You scrutinize _yourself_!

Because _that_ is the _path_ of _critical thinking_.

And wisdom has always been your priority.

Why _betray_ it now?

_What_ has he done to _you?_

Sorcery?

"He's hardly a wizard, Impa."

He displays formidable magic every day. Magic to bend space and obscure his true potential.

"Hatspace bothers you? It is fairy magic of household convenience."

It has been mastered. It has been weaponised. He is never unarmed, and capable of hiding lethality in a place that is truly indiscernible to any other.

"Were I the target of some dark confounding spell, I would rather expect the myriad of magic detection instruments I carry with me to alarm. Magical instruments, I remind, which were brought in order to counter our _actual _foe. And even were they to fail, I should very well hope that between 15 shiekan – including yourself – I would be at least warned if not protected, from malignant sorcery."

…

Then, do you love him?

"L-Love? W-What a sudden… why would you – why _I never!_"

Do you?

"I-Well of course not! We've only just met. That's quite… absurd."

Not love then. Call it infatuation.

Is that it? Is my princess besotted?

Are you enthralled by the one and only person you've ever met, close to your physical age, who might share your maturity?

Do you find the wild lethality that so destroyed the Alpha Wolfos enchanting?

What _is _it, Zelda?

If not sorcery and not love, then there are numerous non-magical means to manipulate the mind. I wish more than anything to guard you from them all. But I cannot do so alone. Help me to _see_.

To see what _you _see. Why do you make exceptions for such a dangerous individual?

"…This mystery is shared betwixt us, nanny. Intellectually I do understand what you are saying. But though my arguments might seem one sided, they _are _valid. You cannot deny me that much. And somehow… somehow when I think of being forceful with him it brings me a sense of unease. As if I were about to foolishly try to take the square root of a negative number, or forget to write out the constraints of my equation. I sense that there is some… something quite fundamental that I just..."

…Is that so? And would that be a budding queens intuition, princess?

To this my young lady smiled fondly. "Why not? You're the one that has said I'm rather mature for my age."

I see… very well. You have voiced yourself a wise and mature liege, particularly of late. These matters continue to trouble me, but I've said my piece as your protector. I can only pray that your maturity has brought with it a benign natural infatuation, after all.

"That again? Weather I have any degree of attraction to Sir Link, and whatever its nature, now is harldy the time to explore it. Besides which, nanny dearest…" Here my princess's smile turned wry as she regarded the scrambling kokkiri knight. "No matter my maturity, he's far too old for me."

* * *

A/N: Okay. My beta wrote a song and I want to support him. I've been asking in all my fanfics that people listen to it and drop a response through the forum system or my email. Details are on my author's page. The moment he receives a review, I will update. I have the next chapter complete and everything. (Don't worry. It is backed up online, on my laptop, on the school computer, and on my USB.)

Come on, I'm not asking for much.

In case no one figured it out, Impa's too stealthy for text quotes.

I created the last line because I thought it would just be wonderful to have that misconception centred around Link's 300 year old ruse thing. I can't really explain it. It's just enchanting to me.

I think I'm gradually getting better at writing royalty. Gradually.


	17. Triangle 17

A/N: I disclaim much. Rather, I never claimed it to begin with.

* * *

Triangle 17 - Bedroom Hijinks

The Terminian royal carriage is really something of a behemoth. It's shocking to me that they managed to navigate a forest with such a thing, in order to get to hyrule.

I am in bed, with Impa beside me, pretending to be trying to sleep with marked success.

In reality of course, I am quite alert and have my attention on the other bed I share this room with.

This is quite a surprise. I had foreseen that Sir Link might reject the Terminian offer of further employment. That was a driving reason for why I'd scheduled my appointment with him directly afterwards.

Due to my time spent with Navi, I am somewhat more familiar to kokkiri culture, though much of their actual lives remains a mystery to me. Perhaps he would respond more favorably to me.

Yet here he was, neither as Princess Lillian's guard, nor as mine.

But as an uncompensated 'guest'.

If you did not compensate one, then they did not need you. If they did not need you, then they were not _yours_.

This was an essential royal lesson imparted to me by my father.

So it is a bit absurd that her royal highness's safety was entrusted to one that was not hers.

But the Terminians, it seemed, were desperate for his power.

Even though he lost to Sir Volfenzar earlier.

Well it was quite astounding as far as matches went. I've heard the tales before, but Sir Volfenzar really does have Farore's own luck.

Sir Link was dancing about Sir Volfenzar's flowing technique one second – as if the forest knight were some kind of pixie, rather than a child.

And when he at last struck the Hero, as if by divine hand, his Deku stick had broken (a rather common occurrence for Deku sticks, I gather – which makes matters only slightly less painful for the opponent) and the splintered free half of Sir Link's weapon flew soundly into his own head.

It was… it was quite a sight.

Presumably, this would denote the 'Protection of the Hero' as explained in ancient texts. The Hero of Time's 'Divine Path'.

That, or Sir Link had orchestrated the whole issue. But to riposte yourself with a broken weapon, using an opponent's swing in such a _random _manner… Aside from being skilled, he would need to be insane.

Or a genius.

Or a jouvenile.

Hmmm.

Well… it hardly matters in the long run. My regret is only that the forester and the hero do not get along.

At any rate it was interesting that Sir Link was here as a guest. Politically, it meant that I have truly no grounds to oppose his presence.

Were he a bodyguard, she could object that his accompanying fairy actually made the military presence two to one.

I could also make the case that his demonstrated lethality surpassed her own retainer's – though that was technically unknown.

But to oppose a dignitary's time-honored right to rub shoulders with acquaintances… well it was simply unthinkable.

He was an envoy and representative of the forest, regardless of whatever he decided to call himself.

A representative of the very forest we require safe passage through.

…

I would call it shrewd politics, if I could bring myself to expect such things of the princess or the kokkiri.

Well, the princess wasn't such a person. One of her assistants may have machinated the situation, but I doubt very much that Sir Link would suffer the manipulation of anyone else.

In terms of strategic decisions, he seemed to give his ear to his fairy and no one else. And for him not to detect hidden motives seemed beyond belief.

I could tell one thing about Sir Link with absolute certainty.

He was a composite cynic.

And either through his long life or from some natural kokkiri inclination, he had a displayed knack for situational awareness.

And when one factored in miss Navi's abilities, well the matter was rather moot.

He really did seem to be a guest though. He was trying to teach her a kokkiri game of some kind, and laughing over her excessive enthusiasm. One way or another, Princess Lillian seems to have gotten his…

Gotten his attention.

…

… I'm not jealous.

I'm not.

I'm above such things. By genetics and upbringing both, I am a princess. I don't get jealous over things. Quite the contrary: things get jealous over me.

...

Never mind that he avoids me for no readily explained reason.

I mean, I'm pleasant, am I not? Of course I am. I've at least three separate certificates from quite respectable tutors that designate me thus. Not as pleasant as Princess Lillian perhaps, but considering her highness's singular rarity one could hardly begrudge me that.

And I'm smarter.

Witty.

I too could make Sir Link laugh, given but the chance.

…

…

…I am _**not **_getting jealous over this.

…

… It doesn't matter. It doesn't. At any rate, the kokkiri game they were now playing was called 'Looks'.

It was odd in that, unlike most kokkiri games, it actually had rules.

"Okay." Sir Link said. "Hey, look down." He pointed for emphasis.

Princess Lillian fell for it completely. "Hm?"

And Sir Link flicks her – how childish!

Princess Lillian held her nose, deeply offended. And rightly so.

"Okay!" Link chirped. "Five points!"

Miss Navi rammed the Sir Link in the forehead. Is that the approximation of a finger-flick? "That was a _practice run_." She chided. "You don't get _anything_. Be nice to the newbie."

The princess was incensed. "That was so cruel! Even my father never hit me before!"

"It's just a flick." Link's eyebrow raised. "Is that why you're such a crybaby?"

"Wh-What?" Hmmm. I've never heard her highness squeak like that.

Sir Link has that kind of offsetting effect on people.

"I – Ooouuh, It's my turn! Look down!"

Understandably, Sir Link was not fooled. "Nope."

"By royal order!"

…

…

It's not that I don't understand her feelings.

But Princess Lillian, that's a bit…

"Yeah, no." Sir Link deadpans. "Look: a bee."

Her highness squealed in surprise and terror, frantically searching her own frilled bedclothes…

Before she froze in realization.

"Owww!" She wined, having been flicked once more.

"_That_ time is five points." Sir Link argued to his fairy partner. She acceded that he was quite right, contingent on him simultaneously being 'a big meanie'.

Her highness held her highborn forehead with one hand and angrily stomped as she stood atop her pink, triple-layered duvet matrass. "O-Oh you're just terrible! What kind of friend are you?" she cries. Crystal tears mar her porcelain skin.

Though those tears surely aught to break the heart of every red-blooded man within one hundred miles, Sir Link was aggrivatingly nonplussed. "I'm the kind that doesn't follow your orders." He answered in a flat tone. "Even royal ones. What about you?" he asked, eyebrow raised. "What kind of friend are you? One who conducts her friendship by royal orders?"

Her highness ghasps, as if she'd been slapped. "N-No." The air shifts. The princess's back straightens. And I see in her the soul of royalty.

…That's a bit far to go just to stop crying.

"No, that isn't who I am at all." She says resolutely. "Not in a hundred thousand years. I would rather die."

"Well good." Sir Link said. "I don't think I could stand you if you were."

Her highness takes care to sit properly and grasp Sir Lin's hands in her own. "I am deeply sorry for my behavior. Please forgive me, and allow me to continue to play."

Sir Link sighed uncomfortably, scratching his cheek. "…Yeah. I'm sorry too."

I am unsure as to exactly what he is apologetic about. His offences, politically speaking, are simply too many to choose from.

All the same, he moves in. Before anyone else in the room understands what is going on, and with a supreme naturalness he hugs the crowned 26th Terminian Princess Lillian Marigold Lolivia Rolchastin.

Wha-?

How IMPROPER!

They're of neither engaged or of _any kind_ of blood relation _at all!_

Her imperial majesty goes stiff as a board.

_Quite_ understandable!

"There." Sir Link says as he pulls back.

As if that explains anything! It really doesn't! Explain yourself, please!

"Now we're all made up." He nods.

Excuse me, are you quite sane?

"Wha-" Her highness splutters. "Wha-Wha-Wha-"

Indeed.

"What do you mean, 'what?'" Sir Link surmised and raised an eyebrow. "We've hugged and made up, and that's all there is to it."

He seemed to find her consternation odd – almost naïve. And this odd behavior, he rewarded with a…

With a…

Ouunhh.

Such a smile. Such a dastardly smile. With a vivid openness and a phantom of indulgence in his lopsided lips. It's both boyish and mature. An impossible dichotomy. An invoker of a whirlwind of emotions. How…

Oh.

Ah.

U-Um…

No, that's not right.

As if… As if such a thing would absolve matters. Don't be preposterous. You've assaulted crowned royalty, reduced her to tears, and finally molested her.

Don't accept it, highness. You've royal pride! Ignore such flimsy reasoning! Even the most charming smile... Even the most familiar smile must fall short. No matter it's desirability. No matter what longing it evokes within, of which you never even knew.

It – It's not a matter of degrees!

This is a matter of propriety!

"Ah." Princess Lillian sported a maidenly blush, intensified by that unacceptable smile. "Ah… Okay. Right. We're made up." For she suddenly couldn't bare to look upon him any more, she averted her gaze. "Yes, Sir Link. If you say so. I'm, erm. I'm rather more new to these matters."

Please don't tell me you're letting this felon off so quickly.

"It's your turn." Sir Link offered.

Her highness nodded and smiled. "Yes. I'll try again." And purposefully she pointed behind her playmate, over his right shoulder.

...She must know her trick cannot work. She must equally know that she simply lacks the experience and resources to create any trick that will work. Still, she continues the game she agreed on. And she continues with mustered dignity. There is a nobility in this woman.

With a deep breath, her highness steels herself and in an authoritative, crisp voice, she yells: "Watch out!"

And then something miraculous happened.

Instantaneously, before the words had scarcely left her highness's mouth, Sir Link jolted in place – as if struck by lightning.

He twisted into a powerful, rotating, vertical swing.

It was empty-handed.

Yet somehow between moments, as if there was some frame missing within a comic book, a Deku stick was there and mightily crashed into the bedpost with a 'crack'.

I see. Atop the bed, he hadn't the clearance to do such a swing with a Deku stick. He performed it empty-handed, and then armed himself at the moment of his swing where he _would _have the clearance.

Thereby employing an otherwise impossible arc.

It _has_ been weaponised.

It _has_ been mastered.

"_A swordsmaster"_ Impa whispers to me. "_It is confirmed._"

…

… Your point is made, Impa. Had I not your shiekan training and such an advantageous vantage point from the side, I would have been befuddled by that speed.

From a sitting position.

With a stick twice his height.

But after the resounding crack of the Deku-Stick, Sir Link froze. He wasn't the only one.

As if he had cut the thread of time itself, the whole room seemed stopped.

Miss Navi broke the silence. "F-Five points."

"I-I did it?" Princess Lillian exclaimed.

"Oh my god!" Sir Link clutched his hat and pulled it strongly downwards, as if he intended to hide within. "Oh my god! She got me! The newbie got me!"

Somehow, as Sir Link drops to the bed and begins to roll around in despair…

Somehow, that flailing green form… it's hard to think of him as 300 years old.

"My kokkiri pride! My kokkiri pride!" He wailed.

"I did it?" Her highness asked again, incredulous. "Is that okay? Are you okay? I really did it?" she squealed in delight.

"This is unprecedented!" Miss Navi suddenly exclaimed. "This is a tumultuous upset! Newbie super special upset bonus! One hundred points! One million points! What a blindside! You win!" She declared, lifting a ring of marigolds around Princess Lillian's head. "You win _so much_. You go girl."

I was wondering what those flowers were for.

"I wanted to win! I thought I finally found someone I could beat!" Sir Link remorsed. "Oh Farore, I've failed you." He prayed forgiveness. To my surprise, he was actually clasping his hands together and looking skyward. "Great mother, your child is an idiot. I'm very sorry."

Of course her highness had been completely swept up in the mood by this point. She bounced, giggling to his antics.

"He's fine." Miss Navi answered for him.

"I'm not. My pride is irreparably damaged." Sir Link replied. "I may never recover."

A cheshire smile made its way across Princess Lillian's beautiful face as she stared purposefully at the kokkiri. "Do I get to flick you now?"

…My chest hurts.

For a while now, even though he has been complaining and lamenting…

Sir Link's smile never left. He's… joking around.

He's… smiling so much.

It hurts. This nebulous feeling.

I'm not jealous. Princesses don't get jealous. And I'm not in love. Love is no such painful thing. No such greedy emotion.

And if love were so commanding, why no one would ever get anything done!

No. I'm not in love. His boyish smile and clear, lively laughter do nothing for me.

They – Ouuungh. Oh. Stop it. Stop laughing. I think I'll go insane from the melody.

That's not fair.

He's a sword master. He did throw that match earlier. He may be after something.

I must be hexed. Betwitched.

Certainly.

I could – I could never abide by such an emotion. Already my mind is hazed. My judgement is waning. I want to do terrible things. Irrational things. A hundred half-baked schemes pester my usually crysteline mentality.

I should not _consider _such plots! I am above such cliché ploys to defame my enemies and steal back a suitor. To begin with, I should machinate far more believable scenarios –

No!

No, I am not doing this!

I – Ouuh! He needs to stop laughing! He is making it worse!

And stop smiling at her! Stop it! I'm smarter anywa –

…

I – I should not be thinking such things.

Nanny, help me.

Spells. I'm betwitched.

W-What do I do? What is the counterspell? Protect me!

She leans over me with a curious look, my silent protector, and examines my face at length.

_'Oh'_ she says, blinking. _'So that's it after all.'_

_What's_ it after all? Don't pull back with no explanation.

This isn't love, right?

Nanny?

Right?

* * *

A/N: This chapter was brought to you by the song-review campaign. 2 reviews of my BETA's song = next chapter in a week (or so.) Otherwise, I'll see you when I eventually make time for stuff. See my author's page for details. As to the story itself:

Yes. I went there. Did I go there specifically so that I can later have a chapter titled Triangle 23 - Triangle Love? Maybe. (Actually, no.)

Zelda is perhaps a little Tsundere. I honestly didn't have to work very hard to write her as such. It was fairly organic. But hey, she's a princess. Princess and Tsundere is pretty natural I think. Also: Moe.

Note: for giggles try reading the last section with 'I won't say I'm in love' from Disney's Hercules looping in the background. Do it. Hell yes.

For those that didn't get it: Zelda is a shiekan-in-training, so she is also too stealthy for quotation marks.

My BETA is largely to blame for the chapter length. He was saying that I shouldn't try to be concise. That there's nothing wrong in embellishment. Or something. It was a whole thing. I will say that there is something fullfilling about putting the bells and whistles in.

Long chapter = Long a/n.


	18. Triangle 18

Note: This chapter, and kind of I guess the next one, was brought to you by the review that song campaign as detailed in the various A/Ns.

Disclaimer: Do I really need to keep disclaiming the same stuff all the time?

* * *

Triangle 18 - Shut up Navi

The forest was annoyingly loud today. Well it can't be helped with thousands of soldiers and various carted military equipment all moving forwards.

Because I was to one side of the column, and upwind, I was met with the scent of the forest.

Ahhh. Smell that air.

So fresh and humid. I can feel the earth humming beneath me with every step I take, the energy of life coursing through the very ground we walk on makes me want to greet the floor itself.

"How are you?" I should say. "Nice to meet you, floor."

Technically, a Kokkiri should be able to do such a conversation with the forest on its own terms.

But my communion was always crap. I'll admit it right here.

I turn to my companion, trotting along comfortably. "You're probably closer to the forest than me, right Epona?"

She neighed 'perhaps'.

Now, now, don't be so modest Epona.

"Tell it hi for me." I ask.

A halting, dainty cough occurs to my left, threatening to disturb one of my few pleasant moments.

Maybe if I don't look at the source, it'll go away.

The cough gains insistence.

Flu season, huh?

*COUGH* *COUGH*

La-la-la-la. Can't hear you.

*COUGH* *COUGH*

I round on the princess, perched on the steps of Terminia's royal carriage. "Look, would you like a lozenge?" I demand.

She stares at me, mouth opened for a few seconds.

…And a few seconds more…

…oy.

"Tea!" She finally blurted.

I narrow my eyes in consternation. "You want tea?" I hazard.

"No." She says quickly, and then flinches, shutting her eyes tightly. "I mean… yes."

…

She makes odd frustrated motions with her arms as she sits daintily there. Just what is –

"I… you know-!" she insists.

Sorry, I really don't.

I walk there, staring at her as she stares back intensely – intending, no doubt, to psychically project what it is she finds so difficult to say.

For whatever reason, the extended silence brings her visible consternation and her cheeks slowly scrunch up as a tint of pink blooms there – presumably from the effort. "Tea is good if you have the flu!" She blurts finally, clenching her fists seriously - and then flinching. "B-But I don't have the flu!"

…What?

"I…" she says, smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress with her face a red mask of consternation. "Tea. Y-You. With… with…!"

Then – as if struck by a sudden thought… or an ice cube down the back of her shirt – she stands up abruptly, stiff as a board.

She looked like she might want to say something further, but I guess not because she bolted into the caravan interior with 'fire bats are after my shield' speed.

"So… in the end…" I frown quietly. "Was she trying to get me to make her tea?"

Navi shakes powerfully, barely holding back some sudden mirth. She's been doing that _a lot _lately. Waaay too much to be good for me.

"I," she found she needed a second more to keep herself restrained, and took it, "I think she was trying to offer you tea, Link."

Huh.

…

…

…Wait.

"But _I'm _not sick." I explain.

Her tightly restrained amusement explodes, apparently, and Navi does a barrel role. A barrel-roll of giggles. She only does that when she's really amused.

"You're so oblivious!" she gasps between guffaws. I didn't even know she could guffaw. "You're sooooooo-oh-hohohaha!" she can't even finish her sentence.

Shut up Navi.

Xxxx

Soon I resolved that I wanted to get closer to the forest. I want to actually be amongst the trees, and not just on a pathway.

Inside the main room of the caravan, Lillian is absent (something about a mandatory beauty sleep – whatever.)

Zelda is by the table, scribbling on a piece of paper intently and bent over it so that her face is obscured by her long golden locks.

I think she might actually have the flu, as her face still hasn't stopped being a bit redder than would be healthy, and I'm surprised Impa hasn't yet materialized with tea.

All the same, I want to grab some stuff and leave. The path we were taking was Marno's trail – Marno being the great mother wolfos, of course. Her trail ran right along the border between the lost woods and the dark woods, so I might be able to hop on over and catch one of my friends messing around in the woods or something.

For this I needed some of the supplies I had left in the caravan.

And by supplies I meant candy.

But Bell's in my way.

"Look, what's your problem?" I ask.

"Aren't you going to protect our lady?" she shoots back.

"Don't worry. She's safe." I make placating gestures, as she's obviously getting worked up. "That's what you're here for."

"Well, yes." Bell replies, uneasily. "But there are such dangers here in the forest." She argued. "As a knight of the forest and her friend, both, how can you leave her side?"

There is no such thing as a knight of the forest.

And she'll be _fine_. Navi made up some super-excellent travel guides for the scouts and we spent all morning explaining how if you stepped into the Lost woods, you wouldn't step out again. And how if a 60 foot tall wolfos appeared, you should treat it cordially because she was nice enough to let us use her trail, and all that kind of miscellaneous stuff.

But Bell looks like she's going to have an aneurysm.

I did actually like Lilly. I liked her enough to give her a nickname, at least. And I'm in a kind of good mood. I suppose things might be going my way lately.

Well, I'm still kind of stressed with all the people asking me things about the forest. And then it seems like everyone wishes I would stick to Lilly like Navi on something she really wanted you to see...

But, hey, I haven't been found out. I'm friends with a princess who, miraculously, didn't herself seem to be much trouble. I don't have to go spelunking into some temple, or tomb, or cave, or something. I haven't recently been mauled, burnt, meta-morphed, digested, _or _saddled with something mundane and absurd.

The army's even looking like it'll actually be able to handle itself.

"…Okay." I shrug, deciding to humour Bell. "Fine. Whatever."

What? Don't look at me like that Bell. Of course I'm not going to stay.

Let's see… ah.

Even in this caravan's meeting room, there were closets. The princesses had brought enough wardrobes, probably, to open their own department store.

…Was that their intention?

All the same… "Impa," I address, rounding on an ornate closet. "Will you look after Lillian too, when I'm gone?"

There is a pregnant silence inside the royal caravan, and even Zelda's insistent scribbling comes to a pause as she winces.

With an almost embarrassing amount of dignity, Impa comes strolling out of the closet silently.

"Y-You!" Bell pointed. "When did you even get in there?"

I ignore the retainer. "Look after Lillian, will you?"

"…Certainly." She says, levelly.

Well that was easy.

"I can trust you right?" I ask.

She gives me a short bow. I didn't know Shiekan bowed, actually. "Worry not. As matters stand, I may quite easily be subordinate to you in the future." Zelda's pen snapped in her fingers, and out of the corner of my eyes I saw her making desperate and furious Shiekan hand signs to her nanny. Impa didn't seem to register them as she continued to reason with me. "It is clearly in my best interests to maintain mutual trust."

…right.

Bell halts her rejection of the idea. I know she doesn't really trust Impa, which is kind of stupid. Impa rolled how Zelda rolled, and Zelda just didn't roll that way. But even so she can't expect the woman to back-stab assassinate Lillian in broad daylight.

Finally, I can't hold my curiosity at the princess's hand signs and I spare a glance at Zelda but the girl immediately dives her face into her folded arms for… some reason?

…Mandatory beauty sleep?

Navi was shaking again, doing her levelled best to maintain an outward appearance of non-humour. "D-Do you want me to translate that for you?" Navi whispers insistently. "I'm pretty sure I've figured those signs out. I can translate them for you – aren't you curious? Come on!" she fairly pleaded.

I consider biting the bullet and actually asking her to explain what the big joke was, just so that I can at understand why she keeps laughing at me. However, she sounds waaaay too eager to do so and information so terribly amusing can't possibly be any good for my mental or spiritual well-being.

So in the end I silently just leave the caravan. Maybe the crickets and the wolfos in the forest will offer me better company.

* * *

A/N: review a song campaign: 1 review of my BETA's song = next-next chapter within a week (or so.) Otherwise, don't worry: I'll see you as soon as I make time for stuff. See my author's page for details.

I say next-next chapter because this one rolls with momentum into the next chapter, and actually some of the next one is already written. Ah, it's that thing again. You know, the scene change/character POV change thing. So I cut this chapter here. When'll the next one be? F...Friday, maybe? What I really need is a sufficiently excellent way with which to transition from happy to sad. I shall consult my BETA.

On a personal note: I am full of appreciation to the Zelda community, as I never got any kind of response from the review a song campaign in the Naruto fandom. Really, where's the love over there. Anyway, it touches my heart. On a related note, I actually tried to read the last part of chapter 17 with "I won't say I'm in love" looping and... yeah, no.

Story itself: I'm delighted about how easy it is to title these chapters. We've finally hit the forest, and of course the big moment of entry is off screen because I like to go against convention like that (let's just go with that). I also gradually realize that Zelda as a tsundere is perhaps the most genius idea I've ever had in my life.


	19. Triangle 19

Disclaimer: Do I really need to keep disclaiming the same stuff all the time?

* * *

Triangle 19 - Two Worlds Overdue.

"If you keep giggling like that your cheeks are going to fall off." I warn, recalling one of the threats Saria had made on me as a child.

Well, more of a child.

And I remember – it had shut me up pretty fast.

As expected, though, my execution just can't live up to Saria's. Navi doesn't even pause in her glee.

I glare at my partner, wishing she would appreciate more that I had wandered around not one, but two worlds looking for her.

Seriously, you'd think it would inspire her to be generally nice to me.

"Link!" A distant voice snaps me out of my glare.

Bur… Burnl? I can't really see him, he's so far. But I'd know that voice anywhere. I'd learned marksmanship under his tutelage and borrowed slingshot.

"Link! Hey!" my old friend comes into view.

"Burnl! It's you!" I yell back in greeting. Wow! Just like that I found one of my old Kokkiri friends. He was as scruffy looking as ever, brown hair obscuring his eyes.

At the moment he looked like the most wonderful individual in the world.

"Link!" he bounded towards me.

"Burnl!" I holler, opening my arms in greeting while also dramatically running to my friend.

"Link!"

"Burnl!"

"Link!"

"Burnl!"

**"You idiot! Duck!"**

No Burnl. I stop and shoot my old friend a flat look. We're bros. That's not how it works for bros. We're supposed to keep this up and meet in the middle of a dramatic setting, greeting each other with powerful cross-counter punches leaden with all the weight of our respective manliness – as a symbol of eternal broship.

Wait, watch out for what?

All of a sudden, the answer struck me bodily.

The wind is swiftly knocked out of me as I'm tackled from both sides by lithe forms.

Dropping to the ground in a flailing mess of green and blond all over my field of vision, I can only assume that I'm in quite serious trouble.

A pair of melodious, high giggles ring in my ears and confirm my dismay.

With alarm I spot something grey and dangerous through a gap in all the green and lurch my body desperately.

Unf!

O….Ow. Why does it always end up like this?

I feel the sharp pain on the back of my head, corresponding to the large pointy rock I had lurched myself into in order to shelter the two in my arms from harm.

That's… going to leave a bump. Seriously, I just barrelled into a pointy rock. No, I'm not being a big baby. Please understand. It's a rock. With a point on it.

"Um," Navi wavers above me, "oh yeah. '…hey… watch out?'"

Damnit Navi. That isn't the kind of thing that's 'better late than never'.

"Link! Link!" the two Kokkiris latched on to me chorus. Their voices are almost identical, and when they speak together it actually makes a melodious perfect harmony.

Unless they were on both sides of you like this.

Then it was rather oddly disquieting.

"Hello Melly." I greet the sapphire eyed, short haired girl on my left, sounding infinitely more patient that I felt.

"Hello Filly." I greet the sapphire eyed, short haired girl on my right. "Can you two maybe not tackle me into a rock every time you meet me?"

I had asked them this 403 times, and 403 times I would get no response.

"How are you Link? Are you well?" Melly asks, arms wrapped around my chest in a way that made it difficult enough to breathe that I would have been alarmed, had I been expecting it any less.

See? Like that. They just dodge the question. Nefarious.

"Did you take care of yourself?" Filly quires, in a similar position to her sister.

Burnl finally reaches me. "I tried to warn you." He looked consolingly down at me, before taking a seat on the grass. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live." I reply. "Thanks. The warning helped a little. In fact I wish I always had someone around who could tell me when I am in danger."

'urk!' goes Navi.

"You know," I continue, "rather than being too busy laughing at me all the time."

"Th-That's not…" Navi uselessly tries to argue. "Okay, that's exactly how it was. But if you were me, you would be laughing too." She insists.

I shuffle myself and the twins away from the pointy part of the rock, towards a more comfortable seating arrangement.

Then I beam at all three friends until I worry that my face will get stuck that way.

It was so good to see them. I know I complain that they tackle me, but I love that I'm important enough that they do.

Just seeing Burnl act as reserved as ever and the twins as energetic and bubbly as always… is a balm to the soul.

Hahahaha.

Oh, and in regards to the twin's vice-grip... I'm not even going to try to pry them off of me. The Milly twins were not only powerful Link-seeking ballistic tacklers; they were great seamstresses, communers with the forest, and they were clingy to the point where it became rather an art form.

Try to pry them off in any manner up to and including deku-nuts and a levered plank of solid Elm and they would simply tickle you to submission. It was rather frightful, in retrospect.

"You got a little bit taller again!" Filly gasped in absolute childish awe. The curled at the end of her beautiful hair bounced this way and that as she and her sister ducked their heads around, inspecting me like some kind of rare insect specimen.

When all was said and done, I had only physically aged a year. I guess I threw on a few centimeters, but I suppose to the Kokkiri any of that kind of growth was rather amazing.

"Are you here to stay?" Melly asked. She's smiling, and that little dimple she's so embarrassed of shows up on her cheeks. "Are you finally coming home? It's so strange to be short one neighbor, and nobody tells stories like you." She's so sweet. Both her and her sister were so full of care. They really… just _valued_ people. That was a wonderful trait in aggravatingly short supply.

"Didn't Saria tell you?" I ask softly. The Milly twins were best when they smiled. In the past I had gone pretty far to protect those smiles. "I've got to escort these people first." I explain. "Then I'm coming right back."

There was a dampened silence, as we all kind of realized that I couldn't come home just yet.

"Get Marno to lead them!"

I shoot Melly a blank look. "No. I don't think they'll do well walking behind a sixty foot wolfos."

…I don't really feel up to convincing a sixty foot wolfos to walk in front of them either.

"You don't have to guide them all the time though, right?" Filly asked, metaphorical light bulb shining. "You can still hang out with us! We'll camp out beside you." She said resolutely, as if it were a done deal. As if it was written in stone.

Brave, stubborn, free-spirited.

Yeah, they're kokkiris.

"The wolfos – " I begin.

"Don't worry," Melly placated, "Burnl can make himself useful."

Burnl took objection. "D-Don't I get a say in -"

"Of course not," Filly clipped, "remember that time you made me cry?"

"That was a hundred years ago!" Burnl yelled in exhasperation. "Please move on already!"

Burnl's been a slingshot guru for about 200 years. He could pull the elastic on a standard slingshot back to his ear and even against a moving wolfos he could shoot a deku-seed directly into the iris of its left eye and straight out the right.

I've seen it. It's disgusting.

And he can do it from fifty yards.

But he couldn't necessarily do it from five. He was a sniper, not a fighter. At super-close range…

I frown. "It's not safe." I tell them.

"What're you going to do about it!" Filly shoots back.

Protect you, I want to say.

I can't.

I'm stretched too thin.

…Lilly.

Their desire to be close to me is truly touching. On this recent trip I've had people falling over themselves to 'obtain' my skills, but no one had yet expressed desire of me for myself.

Yet I scrounge up my own considerable kokkiri stubbornness and declare: "I'll tell Saria on you."

There is a triplet gasp of shock, due to disbelief that I would do such a horrendous deed.

Indeed, I am also surprised at myself.

The grotesque lengths that I go to to protect my friends…

"I can't help it." I exclaim defensively, against their condemning stares. "It isn't safe and Saria would kill me."

"Awwwww. Pleaaaase?"

Kuh! They got me! Navi, it's your job to warn me about such dangerous attacks!

Two adorably wide-eyed childhood friends…

My tried and tested fortitude has met its match!

Volvagia just got bumped down my list of dangerous things again, because if I'd ran into those eyes before the entrance to Majora's moon, I would have just turned back. I'd earnestly apologize to Terminia for letting it die, _of course_, but there's really nothing I could do about it.

They're manhandling my heartstrings here.

Um… what do I do? Lilly and the Milly twins…

The forest divides them and though I've acquired an enormous breadth of skills, I've unfortunately remained indivisible.

Get Impa to protect Lilly full-time?

How do I even…

Ugh…

Burnl observed the terse silence and my uncomfortable situation and, like the bro that he is, mercifully provides a change of topic. "Is this the fairy you finally got, Link?"

I blink, twice.

Navi?

The question strikes me profoundly, somehow.

It takes me a contemplative silence, as if there was anything to think about, before I simply just say: "Yeah."

What?

Something comes over me. My lips are tugged up as if by some foreign, invisible force, and I find myself smiling with total bewilderment as to why.

"Yeah." I repeat.

And then I laughed.

I couldn't put my finger on why, exactly. But it was a bubbling feeling from around my abdomen. It bubbled and bubbled and burst out of my mouth.

What's wrong with me?

I'm. Hahaha. I'm so _relieved_.

Of course it's fantastic to see them again. Although we might argue, it was such a comfortingly familiar clash. And it's relieving to step foot in this forest that hummed with warm and familiar energies. But it's something more, I think.

All Burnl had said was –

…Oh. I see.

Wow. Geez. This feeling. This catharsis.

After all this time? After all I've been through?

To think I still had such a hang-up…

It just seems so silly, after being constantly worried about the state of the world(s), to carry this personal issue of 'fairyless' around…

Hahaha.

But...

But I remember.

I had woken up one day when I was 10… and all my fervent wishes came true. All six of the birthday wishes I'd made (that I could remember) had coalesced into that one single point.

A fairy had come to partner me.

I distinctly remember jumping for joy, because the impulsive prancing had quickly rammed my shin into the table in the middle of my house and I'd embarrassed myself right before my new partner.

But before the elation had even sunk in, and before I'd been able to introduce Navi to anyone properly, I had been sent to try and help the Deku-tree. So my dreams of introducing my fairy and standing as a 'normal' kokkiri were 'put on hold… for now'.

And then I let the Deku-tree down.

I let him…

...

And then, feeling numb and outcast... and oh so responsible for it all, I had left.

I was 'boy without a fairy' no more.

I had traded it in to become the 'boy without a home' from then on.

My life had been derailed from there. My childhood was put on hold as well. 'For now'. Until I made it to Hyrule castle.

I had to go see the princess, like the Deku tree said. But no, I had to put it on hold… a little longer.

Because she wanted me to go after the Gorons.

And the Zoras.

Then the Master Sword.

Then the forest temple. Water temple. Fire temple. Every damn temple in the land, a desert, and a giant floating castle.

I was chasing something. Always. And if I showed my face to the village again I was either seven years too old or seven degrees too ashamed. 'After this' Navi and I would repeat. 'Just a little longer, just a little farther. Let's put it on hold… for now.'

'For now'. Damn those words 'for now'. That sweet allure that hid such a venomous promise: 'for now'. 'Tommorow'. 'Soon'.

Zelda was right. I did need to get my childhood back.

That was the intention when I had been sent back in time.

And it had been great - really great - to see the Deku-tree alive, and as monotonous as ever, and _healthy _again.

Except I had already realized that Navi was gone.

She was my partner through it all. I had to chase her. I _had _to find her. Don't stop. Find her. Find her and then we can get back to living… _together_. Put it on hold. What's a little longer? Just…

Just for now.

But then it was Terminia. The orcarina of time, the moon, and all those damn masks. Again, I was enslaved to that baba-damned 'for now'.

I… I…

"I… have a fairy." I announce, introducing her two worlds overdue. "H-Her name's Navi."

Weather my tears are from pain or joy, I couldn't tell you. Things were working out. Going to plan. My time...my childhood... was being unpaused from here.

Navi spins about my head before hanging around my right cheek. "Hi~!" She chorused. "Nice to meet you all!"

* * *

A/N: review a song campaign: 1 review of my BETA's song = next chapter within a week (or so.) See my author's page for details. Otherwise, don't worry: I'll see you when I eventually make time for stuff.

Story itself: This is the longest chapter in the history of this fic and it was origionally conceptualized as a part of triangle 18. Yeah.

The story isn't actually listed as Action/Humor, it's Action/Drama. That means 2 things. One: I'm prone to introspective soliloqus and two: Link is going to have to fight something soon.

I'm so - so - so happy to get into the Kokkiri thing. Hopefully I"ll get into Kokkiri POV next chapter. I'm a big fan of the Kokkir concept. I'm tempted to write a fic called 'Kokkiri story' that's just about kokkiri being badasses and killing things like Nintendo wouldn't believe.

I found myself laying a lot of foundation this chapter, which is perhaps a bad habit of mine. It's not an issue until I start laying waay too much, so I have to be careful. Well, it's done and it can't be undone.

I've gotten good at first person POV, so I decided literally just now that it's time for a new project. I'm going to retrofit this story into 'arcs' and then expiriment in purposed 'arc-writing'. That said, we're in arc...4. Kokkiri monogatari (working title. It's japanese, and a long story. I'm an otaku.)


	20. Triangle 20

Disclaimer: Do I really need to keep disclaiming the same stuff all the time?

A/N: I shall attempt to separate POVs with these lines that cut across the screen.

* * *

Triangle 20 - Huggles.

He's so different when he comes back. He's light on his feet.

I have some Sheikan training. All princesses that may be the 'princess of destiny' are required to.

I _know_ that Sir Link's footfalls should be ten times the sound he makes, but now it's as if he's walking on air.

Literally.

Impa, do you hear that?

_That deafening silence? Yes. How fortunate._

I thought you were terrified of him?

_Things are different now. When you marry him, he will not need a flock of my shadows to protect him. Frankly, you're reckless nature is going to be enough for me to worry about._

That's - ! We're not like that!

_I know. What's the hold up? As your nanny, I have to say I'm mildly disappointed. _

Impa! **Must** you tease me?

_Apologies, Highness. Nanny's prerogative._

* * *

I haven't seen Sir Link like this before. It's startling. He's so… alive now. Vibrant. Happy.

I thought he had been happy last night as we played together. I wasn't wrong, I think.

But there's some qualitative difference between that and this.

I'm absolutely swept up in it.

I'm swept up and swept over to where he is seated at the steps of our caravan.

No, not with force.

But there's a form of magnetism. I can't pry myself away. He's so much more alive and vibrant than anywhere else in the world.

Princess Zelda seems to be similarly afflicted. She seats herself on his other side – Sir Link makes no explicit note of her presence. She seems awkward and out of place.

Strange. I feel quite at home beside Sir Link.

We are friends after all.

Friends.

_**My**_ friend.

We get to talking and I learn much as conversation steers towards the forests that he guides us through.

People, Sir Link says, do not seem to understand. Nature is not wasteful. Do not attack and it will not attack you back.

In Terminia, he tells me, it takes hundreds of years before Nature adapts. Before her children grow fangs to come back and bite you. They will get stronger. They will protect themselves. But you may never notice that change in your lifetime.

Here, it will happen in hours. It has happened before. It is happening right now.

Respect, he says. It's about respect.

Most animals can't talk, but they still communicate. On the first day of our march, a man stepped on a cockroach. On the third day, another man did so too.

This one's antennae pierced his jerkins and numbed him from the waist down in seconds.

The cockroaches say 'don't step on me. I will take you with me'.

Zelda mumbles something about a fascinating viewpoint. About mutually assured destruction, and the notion that the natural world had understood the theory millions of years before man had written it down.

I ask him why he's so happy. Why he's so much fuller of life than ever before and he tells me that he's seen his friends. And that he's introduced Miss Navi to them.

"It's kokkiri tradition to introduce your fairy partner to everyone in the village." He explains. "We're a really tight-knit group and having a fairy partner is like adding a member to the family. It's the biggest birthday I'll ever have."

That's so exiting! I give him my profound congratulations, and ask him what is to be done on a day of such prestige.

"The celebration is going to start when I get back home." He tells me. "But you can hug me if you want." He chirps.

Hug?

He smiles at my confusion, somewhat bemused. Opening his arms, he asks: "Can I have a hug?"

By Nayru's light. I have never been asked. I have never received.

Yes! Yes, you can most certainly have a hug!

I admit that I almost manhandle him in my attempt. It's so warm. He's just a bundle of warmth. And he's _hard_. Sturdy. It catches me by surprise. Are all boys so stocky? Is it just a warrior thing?

The contact feels reassuring and safe. Warm, like what I dream my mother's embrace was like. And the fact that he asked me… that somehow I am giving back to him what comfort I am taking… fills me with wonder and appreciation.

I want more.

My bust, I think, is too excessive. I must bind it and its growth has destroyed my balance. It's only purpose seems to be to give me all the wrong kinds of attention.

And it has never been so much in my way as when it gets in the way with this hug.

My stomach is cold. I want more. More. Like a disheartened traveller in the dead of winter, I want more _contact _and that damn bust of mine is _in the way again_.

Somehow angry, I pull his waist to mine with force, until his curves fit mine.

It's warm. It's peace and comfort. It's –

"L-Lilly." Sir Link gasps. "C-Can't breathe!"

It's apparently highly uncomfortable on the other side.

With a gasp I let go, and my friend coughs a bit.

I – I…

I'm a charlatan. I'm a bully.

I'm so _**embarrassed!**_

"I – I am so very sorry Sir Link!" I blurt. "I – I – I –"

I want to crawl into a hole. Someone dig a hole for me to crawl into!

"It's fine." He tells me. "It's… yeah. I've been through worse, believe me. I had a Goron hug me once. And you're no Goron, believe me. Yeah. Nice… enthusiasm though."

I want to die. I'm so embarrassed.

Zelda speaks up: "Sir… Link?"

It's so tentative. Gentle. Weak.

I am unused to hearing such a tone from her. In many ways the younger girl seems my senior. She is so sure, decisive, and intelligent.

Tentatively she opens up her arms.

Sir Link stares at her.

"Um…" she frets. "Is it… wrong?"

"…No." Sir Link seems to deflate and answers after a pregnant pause. "No. It's… It's a day of hugs and congratulations. I guess… I…" He trails off and looks to miss Navi.

I don't know what she's doing, for only Sir Link can see through her fairy glow. I don't know what she's saying, as she whispers into his ear.

Whatever she says, Sir Link turns back to Princess Zelda and with aching slowness he goes to embrace her.

Now I'm jealous.

They _fit. _

Same height. Her bust does not get in the way.

You could not pass a stalk of straw between them.

"Congratulations Sir Liink." She tells him as her chin rests on his shoulder. "I understand that you worked hard to find her, and you have finally reached the end of that journey. You have my profound best-wishes for your future together. You deserve it."

"I…" Sir Link continues to stare at her. I cannot see the expression on his face, as he is facing Zelda on his other side. "Yeah…" he says, thickly.

Is there….

Is there some history between them of which I am unaware?

* * *

A/N:

I make'eth my return. I would like to mention that I know there's not a lot of plot development or whatever, in terms of getting to the actual end-boss. However, I wrote this and it would be a waste to throw it away.

Originally, the story was going to go in a different direction (somewhat) but I find that when I lose motivation to continue writing, it's because I don't actually want to write in that direction.

So I changed tracks. Meh.

I must try to focus more on Tsunade's Heir, though, because someone reviewed my beta's music (I only just noticed this now).

Speaking of that, the link to my forums (where people could drop comments on that music) was messed up (I only just noticed this now). So I've fixed it.


	21. Triangle 21

Disclaimer: Do I really need to keep disclaiming the same stuff all the time?

* * *

Triangle 21 - Nightshift Nightmares.

Later that night, I'm staring out of the caravan window wondering if Burnl and the twins are asleep yet. It was such a good day, today. I hadn't even realized I still had some sort of hang up over it all, but I do feel as if I was able to move forwards in my personal life for the first time in…

Well, it's gotten really hard to calculate time objectively ever since I got into this Hero business but…

Anyways, it's been put off _too long_.

It was during this time that a piercing scream broke me from my revelry. It's Lillian, and I know that particularly type of scream.

I'm beside her quickly, shushing her, and she grips my hand as if she's on the lip of a precipice.

I brush sweat-matted hair from her highborn forehead. "Nightmare?"

She nods silently. "The... the w..."

A frightened expression. A wide-eyed, smooth face. Trembling lower lip.

"Wolfos, right?" I ask.

She nods.

Farore. She's so...

She reminds me, perhaps, too much of my forest friends.

I... was always a bit too protective of them.

In a flash, I see Mally there, her image fresh from this morning, telling me about the nightmare she had just had.

In the village, only me and Mido took up the sword. It was our duty to protect against the wolfos. It was Burnl's responsibility to keep the deku-baba away.

But the deku-baba could be reasoned with while the wolfos were quite frightful.

And when I learned the sword, I became popular to deal with nightmares that... that seemed to be hundreds of years old.

After all, it was me or mido, and mido was...

Well, mido was a mido.

So I've seen this scene before. 'The wolfos.' They would whisper.

"I... I remember." She whispers. "The Wolfos. He was b-big. So big. With teeth as big as my arm. And your blood pouring out of his mouth without a care in the world. It was so very frightful!"

I close my eyes and sigh. Had she been having nightmares since that time? I hadn't noticed, but then I had never stayed up as late after she had gone to sleep. "Oh." I whisper. "Right. You were there, weren't you? You saw when me and the Alpha crashed in to this caravan." You can still see the patch-job where the hole was, in the other room. "But I'm surprised at you. You seemed to empathize with it, after. You sang to it, remember?"

"...Yes. Well, he had died. Poor thing. But then he came to kill us, didn't he? He had come to this caravan for me, didn't he?"

"No." I shake my head. "No. Wolfos are wild, but they are smart too." I wince, feeling a still-lingering phantom pain in my left arm from the fight as I recall just how smart they could be. "There are certian rules they follow." I look to her eyes. Curious eyes. "They can feel when someone is strong, and they won't raid the den until they kill the one protecting it. Yes, he would have gone after you, but not before dealing with me. They sneak around to kill each-other, not to kill the cubs. So don't worry. They will always try to go through me, first."

"That's... that's... not... I don't want you hurt." She whispered to me. "You're my only true friend."

A chuckle bubbles up from me. "It's okay. It's my job to be the tallest tree in the forest, when it comes to wolfos. I'm what the lightning strikes first, both here and in the kokkiri village." Well, I had been the second biggest tree. If I go back now, I wonder who would win between Mido and I?

"But he hurt you so terribly." Lillian argued. "That blood I saw was yours, wasn't it? And your shoulder was ripped to shreds. You were so..."

"Don't mind it." I tell her. "I'm used to it. 300 years old, remember? And I'm not dead yet." I joke. Perhaps I can make some use out of my cover story. "Just take this, okay? It's a kokkiri charm." I tell her as I snap my fingers and magic up a deku-nut. "Grasp it tightly, and you will feel it in your dreams. But whether in your dreams or in the real world, if you throw it I will come to you. Understand?"

"I... truly?" Lily asks in awe, staring at the unassuming Deku-nut.

"Yes. You're my friend and you're under my protection - why do you think I'm splitting this caravan with you? For the comfy cushion I get to sleep on? Believe me, a good pile of dry moss? Five times better."

She giggles, before a crestfallen look crosses her face. "B-But then you... you'll have to fight it again."

I close my eyes as if a physical flash hits me.

"Link? But your training only just finished, didn't it? You don't even have your own sword and shield yet. We -can't- take this." The Milly twins, wide-eyed in their shared double-bed, tried to push the charms back to me. "You could be hurt!"

I open my eyes slowly, half-expecting a twin to stare back at me.

It might as well be. That pure concern and hesitation is just the same.

Yes.

Definitely.

-Way- too kokkiri for my own good.

"I see." I sigh. "Then give it back."

She flinches, gripping the deku-nut tightly. "I... yes." She says, slowly. "Y-Yes, you're right. Here."

"Good." I take her open palm, and wrap her fingers over the charm, myself. "Good for you. You have displayed great courage, and respect for the life of another of farore's children, and now the magic will be twice as strong."

"R-Really?" She asked, excited at what she has accomplished. "But-"

"Hush."

"You -"

"Hush!" I insist. "Behave. Go to bed."

"Wou..." Lillian begins, blushing. "Would you sleep with me, Sir Link? Just tonight?" She smooths the sheets next to herself. "There is excess room enough here, I think. I would feel much better if you were next to me. I understand that it's no patch of dry moss," she smiles cheekily, "but I hope that my bed can exceed your cushion."

"I..." I swallow, thickly. "I shouldn't." I like her. I do. She's a good friend. A good person.

Too good.

I need to be careful. I have secrets I need to keep and I have to remember that our fates lie in different places. We can be friends. But not quite best friends.

I'm already too close.

"It wouldn't be right." I tell her. "I'm older than I look." Where did that come from? What an awkward excuse to use.

Where did that -come- from?

I don't want to know.

"Oh." Her smile drops immediately, but her cheeks flare up. "I. Oh. Y-Yes, of course. That would be... improper. Of course. I... I'm sorry. Don't break up our friendship, please?"

I sigh, and experience an inexplicable urge to palm my own face. "Hush." I beg. "Go to -bed- already."

"Right! Yes, of course!"

"And anyway Lily," I say, "you don't have to worry about me being too far. Remember, I am only a stone's throw away."

She smiles, gratefully and whispers: "Thank you."

* * *

A/N: D'aaaw.

Character fluff. This might be one of the best fluff I've written. Not everyone will agree, of course. But then I am not really known for my fluff. I have to practice my fluff, if this story is to be successful.

I love the kokiri. I love dealing with kokiri back-story. I hope to do more kokiri backstory. I wish more people would do kokiri backstory.

I'm not entirely sure how it exactly is for the reader, but the personal inflection on the narration using fir person POV and the pure non-omniscience of it is just adorable for me. I'm falling in love.

Review a song campaign: 1 review of my BETA's song = next chapter within a week (or so.) See my author's page for details. Otherwise, don't worry: I'll see you when I eventually make time for stuff.


	22. Triangle 22

Disclaimer: Do I really need to keep disclaiming the same stuff all the time?

This chapter was brought to you by the Review a Song Campaign. Details at the bottom of the story \/

A/N. I will remind people that Horizontal lines are being used to switch POVs now.

* * *

Triangle 22 - War Crimes

I take a few minutes to collect my thoughts.

Things are beginning to move, not just in my kokkiri life, but perhaps over here as well.

People are drawing towards me. The princesses…

"Sir Link?"

Speak of the devil.

It's Zelda this time. I roll my eyes. "Can't you kids get to sleep?"

She sits up, slowly, and takes the covers with her – wrapping them around herself like a cloak as she sits on the edge of the bed. "I didn't mean to overhear. I… I have been waiting to talk to you. I just… I couldn't help but notice earlier… When we h-hugged."

She's getting red again.

Princesses: still pretty weird.

"Well…" she continues, staring at some point on the floor. "It was somewhat awkward. Sir Link. It is not just today either. Forgive me, but I have acquired the view that you… are not in the best comfort about me. Have you not held me at arms length all this time? I – I do not see what is so different between me and princess Lillian."

There's a big difference. One triforce piece's worth – that's a third of godhood.

You and I – we're connected. To eachother. To a fate of blood and grief.

You led me on that path. When the next great evil comes-a-knocking, you'll lead me down the next path too.

* * *

"It's nothing." he tells me.

"It's certainly not nothing!" I yell, then pause. One, it is unseemly to raise one's voice like this. Particularly in the sleeping hours. Two, I happen to have inherited a somewhat irrisistable compulsion to always check my double-negatives... Yes. It is all right. "You have made your view on princesses plain," I explain, "yet you treat me and princess Lillian as night and day!"

'You're pouting' Impa, pretending to be in peaceful slumber, whispers from behind me.

'I am not pouting' I jab back at her forcefully through mores-code under the covers.

I shake thoughts of my nanny from my mind. She had become consistently more insufferable since this entire love business. Can't she see that I am trying to work? Hylian-Kokiri relations are very important.

I turn my attention back to Sir Link. He really does treat me differently. He is so gentle to her. So protective. So open. So kind.

And with me, he is more aloof than the most stoic and uncaring sheikan.

But sheikan, as my nanny so recently demonstrates, are relatively talkative to their allies.

It is their enemies they ignore.

The thought does nothing to assuage my fears.

"Have... I done something to offend you?" I must know.

Sir Link shakes his head. "I don't even really know you."

I frown. You do not need to personally know a woman to dislike them. As a princess myself, I have been tought as much and more.

And so I already have some inklings at what may stand between us. "Is it the fairy war?" I ask pointedly. "Is that why you treat me with such difference?"

He says nothing, but sighs.

"That's it, isn't it?" I continue. Hundreds of years ago, Hyrule went to war with other nations.

It must be understood that we have never been a particularly warful country. This had the side-effect of breeding a certian inexperience and this inexperience translated into many issues, of course, including a penchant for over-estimating what ability we did have.

In summary, we picked a very poor fight to aggravate.

Our shining light in that war… the only thing which kept us standing was our fortune in being able to solicit the help of fairies.

"My country accepted their goodwill," I continue aloud, subdued as I imagine this as what stands between me and Sir Link, "before de-personalizing and de-legalizing them. They were forced to fuel the engine of war. Like a resource."

Fairies trapped in cages? Please. They had been _woven_ into chain-mail.

And food? They did not eat, my people thought, for the sole reason that they could not be seen to eat. They were simply magic.

Claims that they needed to return home to feed on 'mana' fell on deaf ears. Return home? To eat? A likely story. A convenient tale.

It made me **_sick _**and **_I _**am **_Hylian_**.

"We trampled on mortal rights, and on group agreements, and Nayru herself would have wept at our loveless illegality. In the official historical documents, it's said that we made reparations but… we didn't, did we?" I ask, staring at last into Sir Link's eyes. "We never even apologized… did we?"

It is a kind of morose curiosity that allows me to stare at him. Am I right? Is this why he stays apart from me?

He dare not befriend the descendant of such monumental backstabbers?

Hyrule had never gone directly against the kokiri – even we were not so foolish as to oppose a guardian of nature such as the Deku Tree.

But something Sir Link had said to Princess Lillian once rings in my mind. The friend of my friend… should be my friend.

Logically speaking…

The enemy of his friend… should be his _enemy_.

I fear this. I fear that nothing I can do will ever settle things between us.

For if I am correct, this gulf is wider than generations. More insidious than the blackest poison.

This is a blood-feud.

* * *

How could she read so deeply into something so completely wrong?

But… it's not totally wrong. I know my kokiri history.

I stared at her. "Hyrule gave the southern forest and the lost woods rights to self-autonomy." I tell her. "But no. There were no apologies."

I had cried when I heard of the 'Fairy War'.

Oh.

That wasn't what the fairies called it though.

To them, it was the 'Human War'.

The first they involved themselves with, and the last.

I will admit… I have always been weary of royalty in the back of my mind.

Because it had been them which gave the unforgivable order: Use them.

Hah.

I remember when I saw Zelda for the first time.

'Are you the boy from the forest?'

Yes.

'Then go forth.'

Prettier words that 'Use them'.

...

... I'm not being fair. I know that.

The situation was bigger than that, or I would have told her royal highness that she was on her own.

I know that.

But still...

"Was… that legal document worth anything?" Zelda asked. "Does it even matter?"

I sigh. "You can't own a forest, Zelda. It's alive. And when it comes to those two forests, they are even more alive than any others. They have personalities and wills. They're our mothers. And you should know how stupid it would have been to attack one of them."

"So we apologized for objectifying the fairy race…" She smiled weakly. Sickly. "…by objectifying their mothers? And we… we gave you our solemn promise… not to be so idiotic as to march ourselves to our certain demise?"

And then she says something which throws me for a loop. Something that I'm two minds about. She says to me, about this war that neither of us had been around for...

"I'm sorry."

I sigh. "It's not for you to apologize." I tell her. "It's in the past. You weren't there." Flashes of the other Zelda flit by when I blink.

Yes. This Zelda wasn't there. This Zelda had never done any of that. The parallel is not lost on me.

"Yet you hold the crime against me!" She protests.

I don't. I hold it against what you could become, with the right divine incentive. About what I would become, if you pass that divine incentive on to me - as is your duty.

I hold it against the future you that doesn't exist anymore.

And also, I hold it against your pride. Your 'royal stature' that tells you that people should be happy to do your bidding.

"And you are not wrong to do so." She continues, still talking about the fairy war. "My predecessors were responsible."

Future Zelda, her predecessor? Yes... I suppose so. The parallel holds.

"They were wrong." She continues. "Your people were wronged."

I was wronged when I got involved with her and Gannondorf.

Sort of.

"You were hurt, and it cannot be right to leave things as it is. I cannot begin to imagine what my country could offer, that the faires would desire, but I'm _sorry_. I'm so, _so **sorry.**_"

I stare at her.

Is this a function of 'Wisdom'?

Does she still hold her piece?

I wonder if some part of her soul remembers what happened between us...

"You don't have to talk about it today." She says.

I take in a deep meditative breath then. She apologized. Today is a new day. A good day for it. I felt that my life moved forwards a bit… for the first time in a while. And I don't know how long I've been waiting to introduce Navi to my village. "If not today…" I whisper, "then when?"

When will I ever let it go?

When will I ever get my vacation, if I keep dragging this past behind me - a past that doesn't even exist anymore?

I regard her for a while. She looks different without that strange hat she wore when I met her as a child. Wrapped in a plain blanket over her plain nightie, she seemed not a princess at all – but just a beautiful, smooth-skinned, and mature little girl.

She was a haughty girl. She was used to getting her way.

But not with me, perhaps, anymore.

I stare at her truly sorrowful expression, and I know that she is resentful for events that were done by people dead and gone long before her time.

It was the closest I would ever get to an apology from the Zelda that now is lost to the temporal void.

I stare at her, and something moves in me. "I forgive you."

I'm not sure what I'm forgiving - the fairy war or the Gannon war. I'm not sure who I'm forgiving - the future Zelda, or this one.

Probably both.

Zelda looks shocked, then overcome, and she dashes to embrace me in a hold no less awkward for me than the one we shared this morning - but seems miraculously easy on Zelda's side. Awkwardly, I pat her back and I feel Navi body ram my cheek playfully. Congratulatory. And I know that something has given. Something in me has fallen away. I don't know what, exactly, but I think that means I've done right by Farore today. I think I've become a little more free of myself. I think Navi's proud of me. And I think I've been a good Kokiri.

It's enough.

* * *

A/N: *Sniff*. Okay. Okay, I think that's quite enough. I'm going to have to stop doing these kind drama chapters before somebody starts crying.

What? No. _**I'm**_not crying. Don't be silly.

Let's see... this story is drama/?

?

Oh yeah, adventure. I guess I could stand to have Link adventure somewhere. Or fight something. Or something.

I will say this, originally Link was going to feel more and more pressure - and just when he felt he could relax, he was going to be ousted as the Hero and bossed around until he flipped out and went halfway through killing the entire army with their own explosives, elemental arrows, and cutting off everyone's shins...

It makes a lot more sense in my head. But it was too much angst to get to that point. And I sort of didn't want to write it. Hence it contributed to my writer's block.

Review a song campaign: 1 review of my BETA's song = next chapter within a week (or so.) See my author's page for details. Otherwise, don't worry: I'll see you when I eventually make time for stuff.


	23. Triangle 23

Yes the story is still alive. It does have a lot more competition from other side-projects now but I would like to at least get Link to Terminia one day, and the story is planned to end shortly after that anyways so I may as well aim for a complete.

So I finally got a second review for the previous chapter a while back and I'm like, okay that's close enough. I shouldn't be so petty anyways. It is a fun story to write. It's it's own reward. Only, I tell you I was tempted to just write it for myself and not worry about posting it and the associated grammer checking, plot checking, and ect.

* * *

Triangle 23

Someone Tell Me Why I Keep Losing My Weapons

I wake up in a variety of situations. Well, when you traverse the globe(s) like me, you get used to that kind of thing.

My least favourite way to wake up? Same as anyone, really. To my alarm clock.

"HEY! Watch out!"

The only difference is, my alarm clock generally precludes something trying to kill me.

I spring up from my soft cushion, adrenaline rushing immediately. But I don't sense any immediate danger. With a snap of the fingers a broken sword hilt appears in…

Right. I broke the blade on a giant alpha wolfos. No sword. I drop the dead weight.

"Link! Incoming."

And this day had been going _so _well, too.

"West!" Navi shouts.

West? This caravan was the most west it could be on this path. There were no soldiers that way, so what was being targeted? Me?

No. I'm not that lucky. Then…

"Link! Over h-!"

She stops because I'm already there. Lillian. They're after Lillian.

A grating sound alerts me to what is going on.

It's fast! A drill comes spinning through the caravan wall and I'm forced to intercept with my own right hand.

Scrubshit! Agh, that _hurts!_

Scrubshit! Scrubshit! Scrubshit! Scrubshit! Scrubshit! Scrubshit!

I spare a glance at the princess out of the corner of my eye even as I attempt to stop this damn thing in the stupidest way possible.

You're going to sleep through this? Seriously?

But perhaps the noise has infected her dreams, a little, because in that half-second I spare her I note that she's clutching her hand tight to her chest.

The charm.

…

…

…Damn.

Using all my weight I push down on the weird living drill and force it into the matress. There is a stifled *fwip* sound as it, of course, digs right through the soft substance. But I take this chance to roll the princess out of the way from where Navi glows yellow in warning. True to form, the strange thing bursts up through the still warm bedding where the princess had just lain.

But I'm ready for it now. As it flies directly up to me, I lean out of its path and, as it attempts to fly past me, I put all my faith into my instincts and snatch at the section behind the drill with my good hand.

It's dark, and whatever's behind the drill is a barely discernable different _shade_ of black. And it's _fast_.

So no, I don't make a spectacular blind grab that displays my wonderful skills.

I just miss.

Wonderful.

Well, at least I didn't grab the drill end and have to go through the night with two lacerated hands.

Yeah, that's about how silver my silver linings generally are.

"Navi!" I yell. "Spot me!"

Navi sports a bright yellow as she shows me just where outside the caravan she thinks the drill thing is.

Lillian takes this opportunity to sit up and stare at me with that doe-like look of surprise.

She must have woken up when I shoved her off her bed. Good to know. I was wondering if I was going to have to track down some kind of ancient herb to wake the ludicrously heavy sleeper up.

"Sir Link? What's going on?" She asks.

"Oh, just a bit of redecoration Lils." I tell her. "I thought you needed more air holes around here."

Lillian, Farore bless her innocence, actually looks like she believes my joke.

Struck by inspiration, I gesture Lillian to come and stand by me on the bed as I edge my foot underneath the sword handle I discarded earlier.

That Goron blacksmith had cheated me on the joint of the hilt and blade, but maybe I can get some use out of the cross guard itself.

I flick my foot up, sending the hilt to where I snatch it out of the air.

It's then that Navi's yellow finally flashes a bit to warn me of an incoming threat.

Right. Let's try this again.

"Navi!" I yell. "Light!"

She flares up, giving me a little more to work with as the drill comes hurtling our way.

No. Not our way.

Lillian's way.

"Go limp." I whisper as I kick her feet out from under her.

She "eeps" and crumples obediently to the mattress.

Instead of piercing the princess's heart, the drill meets something significantly denser than flesh or wood.

The drill all but nails the hilt to the wall, but spins rather ineffectually there as sparks fly like fireworks from where it is joined to my hilt.

The sparks themselves help me to see at last what was powering that crazy flying drill.

Feathers? Really? Bird-propelled drills are after Lily now?

I grab it almost absently by the body and hold it up for inspection.

"A Raven?" Navi says, as confused as me for a change. "Seriously?"

"I know, right?" I say. "What's up with that?"

"Um, Sir Link?" Lillian asks, cerulean eyes shining in the dim light as she stares up at me. "Are you done redecorating?"

I… Seriously, Lils?

I resist the urge to face palm only because my one hand is wounded, and the other holds a deadly cyclone of metal.

And I expect I'm going to have enough grief tonight without slapping either to my own face.

"Look, Lils –" I stop. She's shaking. She kind of gets it, but she hopes she's wrong.

My heart reaches out for her. I know the feeling.

"Just…" I start. "Just stay calm, okay? Stay calm and have courage." I indicate the hand clutched tightly to her chest. "I'll protect you."

I don't know why ravens are now sporting something as man-made as a drill, and I don't know why they're ignoring the rule of the forest and going after Lillian when I'm right here.

But this is starting to get kind of personal.

"Ive got their number now" Navi tells me. "I can feel them better. I can scan them better. And we have incoming from way off."

I ask her how many. She says 'a lot'.

Of course.

"And Link?" Navi says.

"Yeah?"

"They've lost their souls to some very strange magic."

Translation: no mercy.

...

Well, I'd better use this short time to prepare.

Impa's up of course. I'm not sure she was ever asleep.

She stares at me in the dim light. "Sir Kokiri. What –"

"Ravens." I reply, holding up the one in my hand. "With large drills for beaks."

She nods to me. She probably understands that some magic is at work here.

She must give some signal that I can't discern in the dark room, because her hidden sheikan allies spring out of the woodwork and encase Zelda in their circular formation.

"Lights?" I ask.

"We would prefer the darkness." Impa replies.

Hmm…

Fine. I'm ready now and marginally more informed so I'll be able to manage.

"Link! They're here!"

"Courage." I whisper to Lillian. "Don't forget."

I hear a cacophony of drills break through walls around me. They're orchestrated. Fantastic. One goes for Zelda. Seven come for Lilly.

If they go at us in a straight line they'll close like a ring of death around us, in perfect unity.

Fine.

"Follow." I urge to Lilly grasping her dainty hand in my bloodied one. We're going to break through one side.

I've never really used a drill as a weapon before, but I remember Carten from kokiri village was showing me his carpentry tools one day. The drill, he had said, must have the tip pointed steadily.

Which meant I couldn't swing this raven I've caught like a sword.

We close in. Can't stop. I duck down and stab upwards with full force using my own drill. In a flash of sparks, the attacking raven's drill breaks off and black blood flies.

I see. A drill is weaker from the side. Thanks Carten.

We dash onwards, towards the head of Lilly's bed, where her droors are. I reach for the droor and fumble a hairpin into my grasp quickly. "Borrowing this." I tell her as I spin around and gesture her to get behind me.

Just in time.

The three ravens coming closest to us ironically had to fly back out the caravan and make a new approach arc – they don't seem to turn all that well. But the ones from the back accelerate up to me.

I flip the long hairpin into a reverse grip, then meet the first flying drill with my own.

I do my best to turn my arm so that I'm stabbing at the enemy from an angle, and the enemy's drill beak obediently snaps off in a spray of sparks. I don't have the time to make a good stab with next two birds, but I manage to turn them away.

That's fine. As long as I can turn the drills and slow them down a bit, I can get at the softer animal parts behind. I'll slip this hairpin – Hey! "Lilly!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She cries desperately from behind me. "It was my mother's!"

But-! Well... if it was your mother's...

I settle for pure deflections and sigh. I keep losing my weapons. I hope this isn't becoming a theme in my life.

Of course the drill on the raven in my hand takes this opportunity to splutter and quit after all the abuse it's gone through.

Seriously... Just...

"To be fair," Navi says to me, seeing my expression "you were probably jinxing that in your head."

You know me too well.

Well... Two out of seven. That's okay.

There is some silence as all the remaining ravens circle our caravan while whoever's pulling the strings on their lifeless forms decides how to try us next.

I look over to Zelda's side.

It seems that a drill blew right through one sheikan's shoulder before being was caught by the second. Yes, with bare hands. That's odd. With enough people to multitask goals and _one _raven to worry about, I didn't think the Sheikan would be having any problems. Their thing is agility after all. Well, that and self-sacrifice for the Hylian roya – Oh, I get it.

Lillian notices the bloody scene as well.

"We should help them." She says as she moves towards their side of the caravan. "W-We should do something!"

Lills, that's nice of you. But now's not really the –

Navi bumps my cheek. "Link. Above!"

Here we go.

They'd tried attacking from the side, below, and all sides at once, so I guess that only left the roof huh?

They come wide, which is odd. But their aim is appearent when I notice that they're dropping the main roof spine on us. It's a giant beam of wood and it's falling right on Lillian's head.

It smacks. It smarts.

Stupid birds.

Lilly stares up at me from where I've tripped her down. I've got this beam weighing right into my shoulder. It's not that big, thank Farore, but it seems to be really really thick…

Black Ironwood. Well, that explains why it took so long for them to drill through.

"S-Sir Link, I –" Lilly stammers.

"It's fine."

"I'm so –"

"Calm down." I tell her. I haven't told her to move so I can drop this beam yet, since an Idea is forming in my head. "Remember what I told you."

"C-Courage." She replies. "Yes. I… Yes, I remember." She takes a deep, shaky breath. She clutches her deku nut tightly to her chest. And when she lets it out she looks at me with clearer eyes. "What must I do?"

Good girl.

"Wait." I tell her. "Just wait for a second."

"Incoming!" Navi warns, flashing yellow and hovering over Lillian's sternum.

Fear flashes in the princess's eyes, but when fear rears its ugly head that is when courage shows its worth.

"Wait." I repeat.

Shaking, she nods anyway.

The ravens can't turn well, so that means they're digging through the earth before they can attack from below. They'll be slower, and this beam is made of one of the thickest woods I know.

It's a good idea.

Navi flashes particularly violently, and I yell for Lillian to roll away.

She's extremely happy to do so by this point.

And five ravens find themselves flying through dead space before being lodged into the beam I'm supporting. They're drilling through – but it will take them a few seconds. A few seconds too long.

We've got them. They're done.

"And that," I say, sighing as I slip out from under the beam myself – which then fell and squashed the organic parts of the ravens as it hit the floor – "is a wrap."

A bit anticlimactic, but ultimately they weren't that amazing as far as enemies went.

Just weird.

"Nice." Navi quips. "Five-fer."

Lilly sighs in relief as she stares at me. "Good job Sir Link."

"I'm going to split the credit on those last five with you, actually." I point out.

"Me?"

"It's not easy to do what you have to in the face of danger," Isn't that the truth, "but you managed. That is called the Sword of Courage." I tell her, explaining more kokiri lore. It's… nice to be the teacher for a change. "And it's the most powerful weapon in the world. Easiest to misplace, too, but it's still the strongest. C'mere."

"Oh. Okay." She scurries over to me, casting a worried look at the Shiekans and, yes, even the fallen birds.

…

I hope she doesn't decide to start singing again. I'm going to have enough trouble getting to sleep tonight without her creeping me out.

I take her with me towards the door that separates this bedroom from the main foyer. I need to find out what's happened to the cavalry. What kept Bell and her people from crashing this door down and complicating my life further?

I'm grateful, don't get me wrong.

They might have helped but I'd probably be walking over a few dead bodies right now.

But still, what stopped them? I swear, if I open this door and find a fifty foot dagongo or something on the other side I'm going to be sorely annoyed…

Not really surprised. But still annoyed.

And as I touch the door handle, I have my answer.

"I don't believe it." I whisper.

This shouldn't be here.

I should be the only one here that can do that… but I didn't.

Did I? No, that's stupid. Then I would be woken up all night whenever someone wanted to go to the bathroom.

What 'it' was, was another one of the kokiri's household charms.

We have a lot. Hatspace helps us put away our toys and tools.

Personal songs help us keep in touch over the ocarina.

And the locking charm is what we use on the doors at night to help keep monsters and other non-kokiri things out.

It shouldn't be here. I didn't put it here.

I tell Lillian to step back just in case.

I touch the doorknob with my right index finger and turn that hand counter-clockwise. There is a click. The magic leaves.

And I jump back as the door is flung open with a bang.

Bell and company rushes in, silently.

The armor they wear should be clanking and I'm pretty sure that's the general of the Terminian army and he's yelling something at me.

This is getting ridiculous.

I clap my hands twice. "Quiet time is over." I tell the room, and suddenly they can produce sound once more.

Okay, I _definitely _didn't put them in quiet time.

I _hate _that charm.

Saria used to –

"-the meaning of this, Sir Link!" that general guy yells.

"-Milady are you unharmed?" Relma demands, frantic.

"-Sir! Your orders!"

"It's Avernus! That damn snake!"

"Call the Sir Hero!"

"Explain the situation immediately!" The general demands.

...Aaaand now I finally understand why Saria liked to spam Quiet Time.

Wow, they're loud. How do you cast it again?

Who am I kidding, I've never been able to –

"Excuse me!" A pink fairy bobs up to me, drifting in above the sodlier's heads. "Excuse me, may I see your hand?"

"Oh." I blink. "Thank you."

"It's no problem. The mana was shaking earlier and I _knew _something bad was going on. I knew half those ravens before they had been mutated like this and I –"

Swords are drawn. At the fairy.

I clutch her immediately to my chest.

"Touch her and I'll blow _every one_ of your kneecaps right off." I inform. "It would take ten seconds max."

I have 30 bombs in hat space and Lillian's on her bed. Ten seconds? If I didn't have a reason to keep this room somewhat intact I'd be done in two.

What's their damage, anyway? At least let her finish her sentence before you get all medival.

"And after the Sir Kokiri removes your kneecaps," An authoritative voice cuts through the clamor. It's Zelda. "I will have all the Hylians in this room court-marshalled! Compose yourselves, sons of Hyrule!"

I wasn't really expecting a hand from her, but I suppose I should have after our conversation earlier tonight.

"I think that we should all calm down." Lillian says as she, too stands atop her bed. Half the people in the room flinch. When Zelda scolds her troops, they seem chastised. When Lillian does it they seem depressed. "There has been enough injury tonight." Lillian continues. "We don't need any lost kneecaps to add to that."

…

…They know I was bluffing right?

Do they think I'm really going to just blow everyone's feet off?

…

… I might have blown a _few _off. But I would have patched them up afterwards, too.

"We will conduct a tactical meeting after our wounds are fully tended." Zelda continues. "All non-tactical personnel are to _leave_."

* * *

A/N: Yes. Drill Ravens. They are ravens... with drills. Because I came up with them a long time ago and the concept wasn't going to leave until it existed.

I will say the scene was origionally going to be more flashy and drawn out, but it came organically to this point and I reached all my strategic objectives so I'm cool with it.

As always, the review a song campaign exists. Explanations and links are on the author's page. But you really have to say that you're coming from I Just Want a Vacation or I'll assume Tsunade's Heir. Let's see... what else...

The story will... probably end... in 2 or 3 arcs after this one so... 10 - 15 triangles, in all likelihood. And then epilogue stuff... I do feel an inclination to lengthly multiple epilogue chapters stirring inside me.


	24. Triangle 24

I would like to dedicate this Triangle to the release of the new Zelda game, Skyward Sword. I'm really looking forward to playing it when I can get my hands on a copy and when I can spare the time.

* * *

Triangle 24

Mother

As I watch the soldiers depart in reluctance, I note something about this little mash-up of a war party we have here. It's all about culture. Zelda points and stomps, and her army shuffles out. Lillian does the same, and her army looks at her general.

And Lillian's general looks at Zelda.

But both armies depart glumly, while shooting me looks over their shoulders.

Whatev's.

"Now, Miss Navi." Zelda begins as she sorts herself on her mattress, smoothing her hair and dress. "Would you care to share the cause for such a night?"

Navi looks at me.

… lots of looking for ques going on tonight.

"Tell em everything. They'll need to be ready for when I leave." I explain.

I've got to go.

"Try to make it quick." I amend.

… I'm going to need better weaponry. Maybe I can do something with the drills our enemies have left behind. The organic parts of the drillraves have utterly evaporated, but how to connect these drills to a handle or stick? I think I saw some rope…

"Excuse me?" Relma demands. "We had a deal, sir! You are my Lady's man!"

"I am my **own** man." Or kid. Or whatever the mud I am. "And you are your own woman. And he's his own man. And this fop here?" I gesture to the fake hero. "He's his own fop! I'm sick of all this authority scrubcrarp."

"He is not my man." Lillian agreed quietly. "He is my friend, Relma. My very best friend."

A look at her princess's sad face wilts Relma faster than any tongue lashing. "Forgive me highness. I was out of line."

Zelda cut in, here eyes closed and her back straight. "Now is not the time for infighting or assigning blame. Our war party has encountered resistance, repelled the threat, and secured our position. It is time for a debriefing." She summarized.

People seemed to calm down at that.

Why? Because she put a name to what we were doing? Was the unknown so scary?

Well, I know the answer to that. Yes of course it was.

But how wrong to let fear rule you.

"Miss Navi, you were saying?" Zelda prompts.

"We call it lifemeld in the forest, and it's performed by exerting one's magical presence on the lifeline of the subject. Through domination of the life of another, that life can be used as fuel to do… almost anything. The possibilities are as endless as the soul."

"That is dark magic." Zelda observed seriously. "Dark and most difficult to perform."

"It requires overwhelming magical superiority."

"This smacks of Avernus's scheme." The Terminian general growled. "That dog!"

"It better not be!" I snap, drawn away from my consideration of the drills. "It had **better **not be."

Zelda frowned. "Sir Link? I must admit to confusion at your statement."

I go back to trying to tie a drill to a deku stick.

Getting no response from me, Zelda turned again to Navi. "Miss Navi?"

"Um, I'm a bit confused too. Link?"

"Mother did this." I explain. "So she's either mad, or being controlled."

"No, I get the mad part." Navi explained. "And only 'Lost' could perform these feats, as well as the 'Quiet Time' charm from long range. But what do you mean controlled?"

"When 'he' came, he hit us first." Gannon did. "He cursed the Deku Tree, and infected mother through him." That guy. My old enemy. "He was planning his moves for a long time, and he hit us first." I had a long time to reflect on that. Climbing the snow mountain, I had to keep my thoughts running to destract from the cold. "He came for us first… because we're the strongest."

"Are you now?" Relma asked, brow raised. "Intriguing."

She didn't seem offended. She seemed honestly contemplative.

"Magically, he means." Navi clarified. "The Hylians have forgotten most of the old ways, the Zora have forgotten them all… and the Gerudo only have one shaman of worth."

Of course, Gannon hadn't needed to worry about the Gerudo. But they didn't need to know that.

"Compared to that," Navi continued, "every kokkiri in the villiage can perform fairy magic. Our best practitioner, Saria, could probably perform 'Warm' until your armor melted. The Deku Tree's even stronger, and 'Lost' is… Well, let's just say that she wears the pants in our little forest family."

No kidding.

"I see." Zelda nodded. "But you were defeated before?"

"Lost was… infected." Navi said delicately.

The curse that smote Lost took seven years to run its course, and it started that day when I failed the Deku Tree

Gannon had arrived and left before anyone had been the wiser. And only belatedly, the Deku Tree knew it was cursed.

For all his wisdom and power, he was just too kind.

."I presume this was a long time ago." Zelda mused.

"You could say that." I can't help but add. "But sometimes it feels like yesterday."

Finished my spear.

"Highness," The Hylian general prompted, "whether this 'Lost' is controlled or irate, our enemy's presence is located. Do we march on the forest?"

"If we enter the lost woods, isn't it impossible to leave?" The Terminian general mused.

"If we kill the forest," Impa cut in coldly, "then there will be nothing stopping us from leaving."

"That's my mother you're talking about." I cut in. "And I just finished my spear." I inform. "So I would apologize if I were you."

"We apologize for Our people's rudeness, Sir Kokkiri." Zelda frowned. "And General, we marched here purposed. Dividing our attention now could prove fatal in the morning."

"As you say, highness."

"And you should make nice." Lillian frowned. "Really."

"Yes." Zelda agreed in that same tone of control. "And we should make nice. That is a very good point."

The spear is too long. Unwieldy. I break the shaft in half and it feels much better in my hands.

I have stabbed with the sword often enough, but something about the balance of this weapon makes me want to put another hand further up the shaft for support. It's just front-heavy. It's getting away from me. I set about figuring out how to actually use it in battle, keeping in mind my earlier experiences with the drill raven. I can't really block with this but if I cut down on some of the wasted movements, I might have a very good counterattack game.

"Miss Navi, how are we to defend ourselves?" Zelda asks.

"Like Lilly says, maybe you can make nice?" She suggests with a shrug that only I can see through her fairyglow. "Lilly's good at that. She made friends with Link and he **really **wasn't looking for friendship with a princess. It's actually very impressive."

"Oh my." Lillian blushed, flattered. "Am I so skilled? Why I never knew."

Lilly, come on.

"Political defense, then." Zelda surmised.

"You really have the low ground here, from a magical standpoint." Navi explained consolingly. "The Lifemeld magic was just to get a point across. It's a sign of intense power, but inferior in terms of efficiency. If 'Lost' really wanted you hurt, she has a hundred more potent options."

"A hundred?" Zelda asked.

"She picked them up over the years." Navi shrugged again. "She's old."

"Don't let her hear you say that." I caution.

"Good point." Navi agreed. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah. I've got a handle on this." I gesture to my makeshift spear. "It'll do."

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Impa staring hard at me. "What?" I ask, defensively.

"Nothing." Impa explained flatly. "I just watched a child reinvent the short-spear, and sixteen different strikes from the standard royal guard defense art."

"So the moves are good." I surmise. "Nice to know. Alright. We're gone."

"Sir Link! Wait."

Lilly catches up to me when I'm tying my boots.

"I'm worried, Sir Link."

She kneels next to me, wrinkling both her pretty nightgown and her ceramic-like perfect face.

Oh Lils, your face wasn't made to be marred with worry. It doesn't suit you.

Your eyes are just still too pure. Save the worry for when you are old and cynical.

"Listen Lills." I begin, taking her hands in mine. "I have to go, because this is kokkiri business. And I'm a kokkiri." No matter what anyone says. Regardless of my D.N.A.

I'm kokkiri.

"So I have to go. But I'm only a throw away." I tell her seriously and hold up her hands in mine. "Remember."

"The magic Deku-Nut." Lilly smiles. "Yes. I remember."

And she leans forwards and envelopes me in a hug. And it is envelopment. She seems so much younger than me, especially after everything I've seen, but she's my senior.

"Oh thank you Sir Link." She pulls back and smiles thankfully, her arms still intertwined behind my head.

She's clingy like that.

"But, oh, well this is rather awkward." She says. "I was speaking of you Sir Link."

…Wut.

"You said that your mother was angry, and I couldn't help but notice that most of our attackers seemed rather preoccupied with me."

Preoccupied. That's a nice way of putting it.

Yes, they were preoccupied with transforming you into swiss cheese.

"So if your mother is angry, I presume that it is at me." She looks sheepish, tilting her chin downwards. "I hope I have not gotten you in trouble with her."

Oh. That.

Wow, it all sounds really normal when you say it like that. Like you'd convinced me to play baseball and I'd knocked one through the window.

"Maybe." I answer. "I dunno."

"I'm very sorry. I swear it wasn't my intention."

"You haven't violated the freedoms of any protected woodland species lately, have you?" Lost was pretty unconcerned with a lot of life forms in the forest. Although she supported freedom, she also supported her freedom to do whatever she liked on what was hers. And all that stepped foot in her forest were hers. "Because she does get a bit touchy about the protected woodland species."

"Not to my knowledge…" Lilly frowns.

"Well, we'll see." I say as I head out the door.

"Sir Link!"

"It's just Link, Lills." I chide, earning a smile.

"Link I shudder to think, but what if your mother really is being manipulated? What if Avernus has stretched his foul grasp towards your mother because he fears her magical might?" She holds out a hand towards me.

"If it's really Avernus, and Mother is really possessed, then I'll send word back." And I'll quest. I'll hunt. I'll kill. Like before.

But it will be the second time my mother has been wounded.

I will be more ready, more angry, and it will be more personal this time.

"Shall we march with you?" She asks. "He is not a foe you can face alone."

Of course he is. Majora was. I was even doing well against Gannon before Zelda stepped in, but she had to seal him beyond time so that he wouldn't be around when she reset everything. I figured that out after the fact.

In fact when I think about it, both sages and guardian gods have primarily just helped me _travel _to where the bad guy was hiding.

But I can't say that.

"I'm armed." I object. "I've got a spear," I gesture, "and the sword of courage. So do you," I remind as I reach up to pat her on the shoulder, "so don't worry. Besides, I'm not alone."

"Yeah!" Navi pipes up. "Should I be offended?" She asks teasingly.

"Oh!" Lilly smiles and bows. "I'm sorry Navi. I didn't mean it like that."

"Later Lills. Be brave."

"Goodbye Link. Please do be safe and return to us."

I leave.

Sweet girl. Shame she's a princess. She'd be better as a kokkiri.

I weave through the clanking crowd of armor soldiers, ignoring stares and whispers.

It's a mess out here.

Finally I reach the forest. There I find an exasperated Burnl and the Milly twins in a state of restrained amusement.

Well that's… foreboding.

"So what's the situation?" I ask tentatively. "Should I be scared or angry?"

I'm currently leaning towards the former.

"Meaning?" Burnl asks quizzically.

"Well," I begin slowly, "am I in trouble or am I going to be trouble for Avernus?"

"Man, who's Avernus?" Burnl asks.

"Mom's pissed!" The Milly twins chorus, apparently unable to restrain their outburst any further.

Ah.

"Yeah what did you do, oppress a small woodland creature?" Burnl asks.

"Link's been a bad boy!"

Melly. Filly. I think you're enjoying this too much.

"Well that's… good news." Navi says hopefully. "That it's not Avernus, I mean."

"Yeah." I agree. "At least she's safe. I'd still rather fight Avernus though."

I have a crippling weakness towards kokkiri women, Mother included.

I think Saria might have inflicted me with some form of childhood trauma while I was growing up.

"She's in the Forest Temple Grove, Link." Burnl informed. "_Saria's _being her avatar."

Oh Goddess.

"Man," Burnl shakes his head amazed, "what did you **do?**"

I wish I knew.

If I knew, I could go on a time-bending quest to undo it.

I am in so much trouble.

* * *

A/N: Well it's been a while hasn't it? Still have to get around to updating Tsunade's Heir. My muse has come through for me a bit on that front though. My main problem is handling a change of plans with the fight scene. It's not gelling.

Ah, but that's neither here nor there. This is Zelda.

Yessss. Skyward Sword. I would love to get on the early bandwagon for that, but I should probably finish Vacation first. Ahhh...

Especially with the Master Sword getting an avatar. Can you imagine? It's like Golden Power's Arrika... but cannon!

It's like: _I have waited a hundred thousand years to see you again, my old friend and Master... I have waited and withstood the waves of time. I have remained pristine and pure... I have endured all that for you... and you are still wearing tights. I think we will need to have a long talk._

I think I'm going to faint from the sheer ease of awesome-creation such a thing represents...

Though Link's past seems like it will be cliche again this time. Ocarina's Link really had the best past.

I am intending a fight scene in a few mroe chapters. 3 or 4. I intend two or three more major fights after that, before we enter climax and epilogue.

Still, I cannot promise to finish this story. If the prospect of writing a Skyward Sword fanfic is too appealing, I may have to stop with this one. If I do cancel, I will offer this work for adoption and if adoption is not found, I will post plot-notes on the planned future events of the story to assuage curiosity. It's no substitute for a proper story, but at least it will not leave you with a sense of never knowing what was going to happen.

But presently I do intend to finish this thing. Also I will post a Twilight Princess one-shot within the next few days to similarly commemorate Skyward Sword. Why? Because it will be just late enough to make me behind the curve now that a new console-zelda has replaced TP as the most recent. And it is a novel idea.

Okay, later.


	25. Triangle 25

A/N: Happy new years!

Goddamnit, I have to find some way to get Tsunade's Heir started again. Someone give me a jumbo Toblerone and 12 hours of peace and quiet in the house.

* * *

Triangle 25 - Journey of Courage and Kittens

"General, you will be punished for your insulting manner." I say quietly once Sir Link leaves.

"Highness, I was speaking from a purely strategic point of view." He assures just as quietly.

"You will be punished." I repeat, and he only nods. "But I understand your thinking." I consider how to best make him understand just what is wrong with… ah. Let's simply translate matters. "You must understand that politically, Sir Link represents his people here. Then when you spoke of marching on 'Lost' you threatened both his people's equivalent of a queen and his mother."

"Ah." Realization dawns upon his face. "Politics." He says sourly.

It is as if I have ruined his desert.

"Yes. Politics." I snap.

Besides which, we need him. We march to face monstrous beasts, and a dark sorcerer. Sir Link is nothing if not a skilled hunter – we saw as much when he slew the Alpha - and Miss Navi is astute in all magical analysis. I myself am studied in old lore and the Hero's Tale, as are my scholars. We are specialists and our combined experience carries more weight in this venture than the actual army does.

"Will I be court-martialed or stripped of a title?"

Nothing so mundane. "You will make repudiation in the manner of the Kokkiri." I inform. "It will likely involve a demeaning children's game which is designed to be unwinnable and will mock and belittle every mature or male essence of your being. That, or it will involve the consumption of a foul and putrid fungus or equally disheartening edible matter."

"Can't I just lose my lordship?"

"No." I snap. "And Impa, you will be punished as well. You were also very rude."

"Of course, highness."

You don't think anything the kokkiri can come up with would phase you and your hardened Sheikan training, do you?

Oh Impa, don't be naïve.

"Back to present matters." I sigh.

They both nod.

"Highness, the core defense for your safety is outside of the army's capability." My general explains to me. "If the enemy is flexible and experienced, and we really cannot predict the means of attack, then we must react. The general forces will be too sluggish in that."

"You are correct. We shall keep the Sheikan with Us. They are the most responsive of Our forces."

The General immediately launches into his next suggestion. He has been waiting to say this. "Then I shall create a ring of mixed troop composition around your position, in an attempt to cover as many conventional contingencies as possible. Perhaps we will get lucky."

Fair enough. "That is good. Do so in haste."

"Highness." He bows. He leaves.

"I have a question!" Princess Lillian interrupts.

Wah! When did you get there?

"If the Lost Woods is truly sentient," she barrels onwards, completely ignoring my flummoxed surprise at her, "and is both the queen of Link's people, and his mother…"

…You can't possibly be implying what I think you're implying.

"…Then does that make him a prince?"

"Of course not." I frown. "That is absurd."

"Really?" She asks innocently.

"No, not really." I admit. It makes perfect sense. It is simply very silly.

I cannot reconcile the image of a prince with Sir Link's utter lack of… princliness. Princes wear three layers of clothes at all times, two layers of cologne, one of perfume, and a permanently affixed look of either refined cheerfulness or cold indifference.

But I suppose he really is a prince… at least to the extent to which the kokkiri are capable of having princes.

And princes marry princesses. Not all of the time, of course, but more often than not.

Impa signals something to me from behind Lillian's back. Why that-!

I reach behind her highness as she stares down at the deku-nut in her hands and signal back furiously.

No, I am not blushing. No I am not daydreaming, and if you speak to my father of political marriage then I swear by Nayru's laws I will personally oversee the pink redecoration of your secret lair.

And yes, I am aware of your lair.

That shut her up.

"Highness, what are you doing here?" I ask, turning my attention back to Princess Lillian. "Can We help you?"

"Oh!" Princess Lillian snaps out of her daze and smiles uneasily at me. "Oh, I was just worried, princess Zelda."

"I see. The Sheikan do provide more safety in these times. In truth, they possess a good amount of anti-mage training and are both swift and unshakable. We would be honored to share our defenses."

I had simply not anticipated that the Terminian forces would feel comfortable borrowing something so private as personal Special Response Teams. But then, that's her Highness for you. She wields her own type of strength.

"Oh no." She shakes her head, surprised at me. "I was concerned for you."

What…

She clutches her hand to her chest.

I see.

"I'm sorry." She apologizes. "I didn't mean to be presumptuous. I shall depart at your behest."

"No, highness, I fear it was my presumption… not yours." I stare at her clutched hand.

That Deku-nut.

Sir Link.

We were attacked in the night. I was targeted by one foe, and Lillian was by… six?

And at the end of the night one of my Sheikan lay wounded and dying. Even the fairy that healed him only dared enter knowing that a warden of the forest presided. In truth, the night's current state all came down to him.

The night's future state came down to him as well.

Yes. I can see how she would feel confident.

"You really think he will come?" I ask.

"I do. He promised me." She smiled. "He said that if I cast it, even in my dreams, he will come for me."

I want it.

No! Ugh.

"You are welcomed to stay, and thank you." I manage to say while tearing my gaze away from her highness's treasure. "Let us meld our defenses against a common threat."

Where's my Deku nut? Am I not his friend as well?

Certainly we're acquaintances. At least whatever bad blood existed between us seems to have been cleared up this night.

I am a pretty princess in jeopardy! Do I not warrant a Deku nut?

…

Oh, how far I have fallen.

I'm getting jealous over a tree's discards. There are a million of the things strewn about my lands. My horses have crushed them under hoof without a thought.

Yet now I would trade my stable and more for just the one!

Irony is a cruel mistress.

"When will you cast it?" I attempt to distract myself with idle talk, as is politically correct around another nation's princess.

"At the last moment possible." Her Highness tells me. "Sir Link is busy doing what he must for his private matters and for our well-being."

"I understand." I nod. If the business with 'Lost' really is a family matter, then the fastest route to safety would be to stay out of it. Frankly, that would be for the best. We would be relatively safe, being uninvolved with the quarrel directly, and if Sir Link has inadvertently brought dangers to us then that would become a source of leverage to retain him against the more serious threats. "We shall not be easy marks, I think, now that we are prepared." I reassure. I think we're doing rather well, now that I think of it. "We have surrounded our position with steel and speed. Even the divine is being called." I gesture at Sir Hero Volfenzar. He kneels in the corner. "He prays now to the diamond sword for the protection of the deity of courage. The blade gifted to us by Farore in the slaying of Volvagia shall hopefully serve to call its Goddess."

"It really is pretty." Princess Lillian muses. "That sword of silver and gold."

"It is the most powerful weapon in the world." I intone, reciting an old and ancient fact.

My companion blinks twice in a long silence, a confused expression on her face. "No it's not."

…what.

Yes it is. Three separate texts make it clear. Farore presides over the ultimate weapon, and her champion wields it. It rends mountains and kills gods. It is a blade that can never be surpassed. Many thought it should be Din who presided over the weapon, being as her field was that of power. But the translation surely reads Farore and my general agrees.

'If I had to choose between a strong man and a brave man, to take with me into battle, I would take the brave man any day.'

And the general knew his men. He rose to his rank through pure military service and acumen. He bore pomp and politics as a child bore their chores. Disdainfully and not very effectively.

"The strongest is the Sword of Courage." Princess Lillian clarifies. "That's what Sir Link says."

"Sword of Courage?" I inquire. "Would that not be the diamond sword itself? It is meant to be Farore-wrought. Forged in the endless blaze of her own heart."

She smiles at me sweetly. "No. Sir Link says that the Sword of Courage is courage itself. He made that very clear. He said it was the strongest weapon in the world, and the easiest to misplace. It allows us to do what we must, when we must."

"And it is to be respected." A small quiet voice piped up. "And feared. For nothing is as dangerous as a child of Farore wielding its mother's might." The source of this intrusion is a small pink ball that wavers wearily to alight on Princess Lillian's lap. "It is old lore. We all learn it."

"Oh. Hello noble friend." Her highness greets. "You seem bereft."

"I am." The little fairy moaned. "I'm just not used to healing so much. I haven't finished fairy school, you see. Actually, I think this right here can serve as mandatory community service hours. Huh."

They have a school?

…

…They have _lore?_

Stupid me. Of course they have lore. The Kokkiri are their wardens and partners. Fairy lore is Kokkiri Lore.

And the Kokkiri… _Yes. _

_Farore people._

They would have lore. Lore passed on by ageless children. Fewer generations. Less retelling to skew the message.

Oh, but I have been _blind_.

Yet Sir Link is secretive enough. Asking him outright would be fruitless and I wouldn't risk investigating him covertly.

But here, yes…

A fairy.

In school.

Old enough to _know_.

Young enough to _trust a stranger_.

And Sir Link could hardly blame me for making conversation.

One must pass the time after all.

…

The thought sends a chill through me.

No. Perhaps not.

… He… he might not approve.

I couldn't bear to go against him. I can't quite say why. I suppose I must love him, if I am willing to put aside my country's interests.

But all the same, that reasoning doesn't feel quite right.

It feels like… somehow… I just _know _both my heart and my country would weep if he turned from us.

I just _know_.

And that really is a bit frightful.

"Tell me a little, if you please, miss fairy," Princess Lillian asks, "about the Sword of Courage?"

No. Wait –

* * *

I am a man walking to my death.

I can almost hear ominous music playing behind me.

Oh wait; it's just the twins on a pair of matching clarinets.

"Oh, come on!" I whine.

They just giggle.

Burnl shakes his head in exasperation.

Whatever. We're almost there, and then I'll have bigger problems.

Oh man, I haven't even been calling Saria on the Ocarina lately. Forget Mother, Saria alone is going to –

A warning from Navi.

A rustle.

A flash.

And a flurry of movement and falling leaves.

I end the scramble, catching my breath, staring down my short spear at Mido the idiot butt-face fake boss of the kokkiri.

Right under his chin.

Great, it's Mido.

My day just gets better and better.

"Hey." He greets flatly. "You got better."

And the rope holding my makeshift spear together falls apart.

…I'll admit it. He's got some moves.

Anyone can cut a rope. Slicing in a way that leaves the rope unraveling to fall apart right along with dramatic timing… that takes something a bit special.

"But you're still a fairyless loser baby that can't even scratch me."

Pompous ass.

"You cheated! Dropping out of the trees like that!"

That's right. Rule no. 2 with the Milly twins. Only the Milly twins get to tease who the Milly twins tease.

Rule no. 1 was 'Don't touch the kitty'. Now, they don't have a cat. No one in the village has a cat. And I've never asked and never want to find the origin of the rule because that, I think, must be something truly terrifying.

But I don't need them to protect me from Mido's bullying. Not anymore.

"I've got a fairy, actually." I nod over my shoulder.

"HeloOo!" Navi trills.

The drill has fallen to the ground, and easily enough I can flip it to be on its base and slip my toe under it.

He's distracted by the appearance of my honest-to-goddess fairy shining over my shoulder, and I recall earlier tonight when I flicked my sword handle up to grip…

There were similarities, but also differences.

Heavier. Conical. And a different target: Mido's fat ugly face.

No problem.

I kick it up and – because I am a decent kokkiri and not some kind of hooligan – I shoot it so that it barely avoids pinning his hat to an Oak and leaving a terrible hole in it.

"I'm not a baby Mido." I tell him. "I grew up. A lot."

I don't know if I could take Mido head on, sword to sword.

He's been holding one longer than anyone I've ever met.

But with a spear? Never.

Yet a spear-head…

…a spear-head alone held some promise.

So I took a dive. Saw his cut coming. Let it happen. Planned ahead.

Loose the battle. Win the war.

I'm not a baby, Mido. I've grown.

Oh, I've grown.

_Loose the battle. Win the war. _

So old… my thinking has become so very old…

Mido continues to frown, and peers over my other shoulder. "Your kitty grew up." He informs the Milly twins. "He's got fangs now."

What?

I look there too, and I see my friends with sullen expressions. "He did. Poor dear." Mally sighs.

Filly pouts. "He's still cute though. So it's okay."

…

…_I'm _the kitten?

Their rule no. 1 kitten was **_me?_**

What the… oh, come on you two!

"Hey ugly." Mido snaps.

Damnit Mido…

"I don't like you." He tells me flatly. "I never liked you. And I always hated how everyone would coddle you because you were so young. There's nothing good about being young. When you're young you're stupid and weak. You get killed. You get lost. I thought that I wouldn't mind so much if you got older finally, and now that you are you know what? I still think you're ugly and stupid."

I hate you too buddy, you pompous pretentious ugly sunnova scrub.

"But you're still a warden... And out of this sad lot, only you took up the sword…" He shuffled uncomfortably and looked away. "Take these." He shoves his sword and shield into my arms. "And don't get killed in there."

…oy.

"…How… much trouble am I in again?" I ask tentatively of the group as I strap my shield and sword on.

He fixes me with a stare. "Keep your sword and shield with you. Without them, she'll see you as just a child."

"And with them on…" I ask, "I'm a man?"

"With them on you're a child with fangs."

…Great.

"Link." Mido stops me again right before I round the corner to the Forest Temple Grove. "About Saria… she's not 300 and she's not a pacifist. She's just tired of all the blood she's shed."

I stare at him right in his stupid eyes and tell him "I kind of figured it was something like that."

No one is naturally that patient.

She had done something terrible enough to put life in perspective.

I round the corner.

* * *

A/N:

Ancient and grand… the great Kokkiri race.

You wish cannon Kokkiri were half this cool.

About the Triangle name... couldn't come up with anything better. Yeah.

Also, I know it's bad to say this myself but damn, I'm getting good at writing.

Also, look out for a Skyward Sword fanfic in the future. Me and my BETA have been bounicng some really good emotional plot around. We'll see. Still finishing the game.

List of household magics at this time: Push, Dice, Quiet Time, Lock, Hatspace, Warm, personal songs.


	26. Triangle 26

A/N: Yes, the story is still alive

* * *

Triangle 26 - Names are amusing

There are walls on either side, here.

You don't see many here, in my home, and certainly none so high and sturdy.

I remember, I used to feel a sense of awe and security here, along this labyrinth path. Now, the empty white surfaces seem to haunt me, reverberating my own fears upon me from all sides.

And as if brought into reality by my brooding I am suddenly, out of nowhere, struck.

"You're being melodramatic again." Navi hisses. "Stop it.""

"I can't help it. I still have nightmares about Saria's soup spoon." I mutter to her. "Every time I would try and taste-test her pumpkin soup, she'd whack my hand with that soup spoon. Does she have eyes in the back of her head? Is she a ninja?"

"Taste-test... I see." Navi deadpans. "You would try and sneak a bit before it was done."

"She was cooking it in front of my face!" I hissed. "The aroma was compelling! It was a set-up!" I defend. "That soup spoon... Navi if we walk in there and see her with a soup spoon, we'll have to turn around and go to Terminia to live with the deku-shrubs."

There it is. The last corner of the labyrinth. Beyond here is the entrance to the Forest Temple. It is Saria's grove. And I stop.

"Link? What's wrong? She's waiting."

"I'm..." My eyes narrow as I say this next word. It is not one that I speak often. "...scared."

"...Huh?" Is Navi's intelligent reply.

"I'm scared." I repeat with more surety. "The thing around that corner, it scares me."

"Link... we all get scared sometimes. Even you. Without fear, we would have no place for courage in our hearts. We would be hollow things."

"I know Navi, but not like this."

I have fought trolls and demons. A God and a King and those abandoned by life itself.

I have climbed towering mountains. I have pillaged the hearts of volcanoes.

I have never had to stand before my angry mother. The thought petrifies me like nothing else could.

For all I have done, maybe... Maybe I... am still a child.

And maybe an angry mother still terrifies me more than all the boogymen and nightmare tales combined.

Interesting thought.

Not really helpful.

It would be so much easier to run now, and let her cool off. I could come back later and bring sweets or whatever she wished. Exotic flora from Termina, perhaps. I could walk in there and just not preach the Terminian side of the story. That alone would _probably _keep me from her ire. I'm _pretty _sure I haven't been harassing any protected woodland species.

I came out in fear and anger, wondering if 'Lost' had been possessed. I came with a blistering urge to save my mother. But she was fine. She was merely pissed. And now I felt the strength drain from me.

However the Terminian's had angered her, they ought to very well settle it themselves.

...

They are incapable of it. They are so removed from nature, with their science and their politics, that I suspect they couldn't even _fathom _mother's voice. But it should still be their responsibility.

I don't want to be in her line of fire. I don't want to be part of what makes her incensed.

I'm her son.

She's my _mother_.

"Give me a reason, Navi." I ask. "Tell me why I should really go in there?"

"Link." She mutters as she flies up and huggs me by the cheek. She's cool, actually. Her little body is cool to the touch, and oddly comforting. "Link, it's -"

"Because I'm tired." I cut in. Before she answers me, I feel that it's important she understands. "I'm _tired _of being brave. Of stepping in for other people. She's not possessed, Navi. She's pissed, and probably not at me."

She pulls back, then, from my cheek, and stares at me. She hangs there in the silence and the dark, my sole illumination other than the stars and moon.

And she whispers something. I expect her to say 'it's the right thing to do.' But she doesn't.

She says something else. Something I can't quite make out.

"What did you say?" I ask.

"I said..." Navi begins, quietly. It's a whisper. It's as if she doesn't dare to speak it – but must. "I said... Lillian."

I take time then to slump against a blank white wall and bemoan my own stupidity.

Princesses. Always princesses. I knew it would come to this. I knew, and it was a stupid thing to do, and I befriended her anyways.

"Story of your life." Navi whispers. "I know."

I look at her then. She hovers in the same spot, my stability. My constant. My conscience, and my guiding light in the darkness.

She has always been the best of me.

"Are you sure you can't read my mind Navi?"

"It's written all over your face, partner."

I have to bark a short laugh at that. I guess it is. And I guess she's right.

Story of my life.

"Well then." I marshal myself. I feel my kokkiri blade in my hands. It's better than my old one. Before I had used the one taken from the practice trials. This is Mido's and it... feels more powerful. Customized. It looks exactly the same as the generic kokkiri sword, but it is ancient and sharp.

Not even the razor blade revamp felt so lethal. no... even the gilded sword paled.

I check my grip. I check my inventory. I test my shield's straps.

"Well then." I say again. "Should we just charge in then? Into mother's ancient and terrible wrath?"

"I can't see why ever not." Navi quips. "We've seen worse."

"Is that a comforting lie?" I inquire.

"Dunno. I'll tell you when I get a good look at her." She answers honestly.

"So... Once more?"

"Yeah." She nods before flickering to station herself by my left ear, facing forwards with me. "Once more..."

I round the corner.

Once more into the dark.

* * *

It's not dark. It's anything but. There is a buzzing noise and the clearing explodes in a flash of swarming light as I step into it, and I reflexively find myself closing my eyes.

And the first thing I see is this waving, nostalgic green.

Saria's hair.

She's holding me.

Burnl punches me down in broship. The twins barrel me over. Mido surprise attacks me with live steel.

Saria just holds me.

It's enough to make a lesser Hero cry.

"Link! Link, I'm so glad to see you again."

Saria...

"Come sit down!" She drags me bodily. "I made lemonade and crackers."

I see her run before me in this oddly lit grove. The high white walls circle us and one solitary tree hangs above the entrance to the Forest Temple. It is, by and large, an unassuming place. It is unadorned.

But it is flooded with white light.

She plops me down before her and proceeds to shove a wooden teacup into my hands.

"Fireflies..." I mutter in awe. "You flooded your grove with fireflies."

A hundred... no. A thousand.

It's like daylight, except it dances around us.

"Yes!" She chirps. "I asked mother for the favor."

"Why?" I breathe.

"I wanted to see your face, silly." Saria smiles gently. "I wanted to see your face."

"You're not... mad?" I ask in awe. She's so kind. So understanding. It's beyond my imagination. "That I didn't call like I promised? That I ran off and came back with a horde of outsiders? That the first contact I had with you in a year was asking you to set up passage for them with the Deku Tree?"

Saria, bless her soul, reaches down and embraces me again. "Oh Link. Dear Link." She says. "Of course I am."

The surprising words, spoken in such a tone of unamused finality, send a chill down my spine to land solidly in my gut.

"I'm incensed." She explains flatly into my ear.

I pull back as if scalded in hot soup, as if the fires of her kitchen itself are out to roast me alive. But Saria does not accede. With an 'oop', she keeps clung around my neck and sends us into a roll.

I don't know how. I don't know when. But I end up on my back with my arms tied into a strange pretzel shape, Saria's legs peircing the strange pretzel holes and somehow locking them in place. My head is firmly in her lap, and I stare up at her as she smiles down at me.

Coldly.

And I weep inside. "So you _are_ mad!" I accuse. "You're totally mad at me!"

"I never said I wasn't." Saria reasoned sweetly. But her saccharine smile didn't fool me now. I had seen the steel in her eyes and I marked it's presence. "I only said that I was happy to see you again. I wanted us to have tea and cakes nicely for a while. Reunions are happy times, Link." And here her eyes became half-lidded. Here her stare's steel was fully drawn. All traces of mirth fled like frightened forest creatures from her voice. "Chastisements can come later."

This is her true nature. It's a setup! It's always a setup!

And I always fall for it, damn me!

"Wow." Navi breathes by my ear. "She's kind of a bit demonic, isn't she?"

"Don't just hover there impressed!" I hiss. "Help me out of this!"

"I would Link, but that's a full backscratcher lock she's got you in."

"A what?" I ask. "Why is it called a backscratcher lock?"

"Well... because from that position, she could scratch your back." Navi explains helpfully.

My back is flat on the ground Navi.

"By going through your front." Navi finishes. "...with a knife. See, there's a particular angle through the ribs that..."

Thanks Navi. Thank you for your eerie and useless information. That's enough, thanks.

And then, to make a terrible situation so much worse, I hear it.

An ominous clatter.

My futile struggling to free myself ceases immediately.

"Navi..." I whisper. "...What was that?"

"Uh... wow."

"Navi?"

"Well, I... uh... I can tell you what it _isn't_. Because what it is... is definitely **not **a soup spoon. Definitely."

"Navi?"

"Yeah?"

"It's a soup spoon isn't it." It's not a question.

"Nope." Navi lies. "Definitely not. Definitely. Remain calm."

"I didn't mean to bring that Link. I don't know how it got into my pocket." Saria explained. "Promise."

...I knew it.

I always suspected it was some sort of supernatural magical spoon. It follows it's master around like the faithful watchdog it is! It's an ancient and cursed implement of pain and tactile denial!

"I didn't mean for things to be like this." Saria continued, frowning a bit down at me. "All... difficult and... scared. All... grownup." She speaks the word with disdain and bitterness. "I meant for us to have a happy reunion Link. I missed you."

I stare at her, at the shadows that flicker across her face because of the fireflies that dance overhead like a cascading cloth of light.

And I remember that that light is for me.

It's all for me.

And at that moment I feel Saria slip her legs out of the lock. She picks up the soup spoon of death and walks away.

Sitting on her tree stump, she turns away from me. And I...

…

I'm the one in the wrong here.

I scratch the back of my neck nervously as I approach her. "Uh..." I mutter. "Sorry..."

Shuffle. Shuffle.

"Hug?" I inquire.

"Oh. You dummy." Saria chuckles, before enveloping me again in her familiar embrace. "You dummy."

I accept again the juice and crackers from her, and feel around for a conversation topic. "I thought you were going Avatar for 'Lost'?"

"Oh yes." Saria agreed. "I am. In fact, I still am."

Wait. Right now?

"I'm just pushing her back at the moment." She explains. "She's all fire and brimstones right now, though."

She's pushing back... the cumulative sentience of an enchanted woods.

Something second only to a god in magical potency.

"Why?" I can't help but ask.

"Silly." She chides again, with that familiar indulgent smile. "I told you already. I wanted to see your face."

What do I say to that?

I am loved.

I whine and I complain. I sulk and I snark.

But I am loved.

…

...Really, I'm just a big crybaby.

"I should probably go..." Saria trailed off. "I can see you anytime, now that you're back. But mother's time here is limited."

What? I'm not back for good yet. I'm just...

Too late. She's gone.

Saria's posture alters. Her head tilts back a bit. Her arms don't just sit wherever they please – they are placed firmly on her hips. And she stands up on her stump.

No. Not her stump. Saria's stump.

What is before me now is what I feared most coming into this clearing.

Angry mom.

There are no fireworks or fanfare to accompany the switch. There do not need to be.

She is powerful because she is. She is devine because she is. It can be felt in the bones of anyone with any form of sense. And all around us, the fireflies drop to the floor a if shot. Their glow dimms a little. And they remain utterly still.

They kneel now, before their god.

'Lost' takes a deep breath to accustom herself to her Avatar's lungs and smiles broadly at me. "Child!" She exclaims before picking me up – actually picking me up in Saria's lithe frame – and spinning around with me raised in the air like some kind of doll. "Child! Child! Child! Child! Child! Child! Child!" She chortles, before finally putting me down and blinking owlishly at me. "...What was your name again?"

I almost facefault. I really do. "...Link. My name's Link."

"I prefer Child." Lost answers immediately. "Names are funny, foolish things anyways."

"O...kay." I answer.

"That other child was very selfish. She took your greeting all to herself – pushing me back like that. I could have overpowered her, of course."

Of course.

"But..." Lost paused. "Best not. Yes. That one... tends to vent her displeasure in an oddly sly manner that I rather dislike."

Tell me about it.

"But you, Child! Look at you. You have changed again! Always changing, you. You're the strangest of all my children by far."

"Mother..." I sigh.

"You have been away from us for a few seasons now, Child. You have been away from our shade and our nourishment. How has it hurt you?"

"I'm... not." I answer awkwardly. "I usually found shade or shelter. And I bought or hunted for my meals."

I was in a lot of dangers, out there in search of evil things to kill.

But I can't say I ever went that hungry. And I could make do with open sky or a damp cave. It didn't really affect me.

"Nonsense." Lost frowned. "You are my Child. All my children need me. They are wounded when they leave. They die."

"I'm not..."

I start out strong, but I just can't finish.

Saying the words here, to her...

"I'm not..." I try again. "...kokkiri." I finish lamely. "I'm... I'm not kokkiri. Not by blood. Not like the others." It hurts to admit. "I'm... Hylian."

And Lost purses her lips. "Again with the funny names. This is why I don't bother with them. They just confuse things. You are my child."

The way she stares at me then... So seriously.

Mother...

"You are my child. All my children need me. Look at you!"

I 'eep' in an unmanly fashion as she pulls up my tunic and pokes at my exposed ribs.

"You are covered in scratches and wounds! What caused this one?"

"That? Um..." Lower right rib... that's... "A Dinofol... I think? It's like a Lizalfos, but more... dino."

"And this, here? This blemish that speaks of mortal pain?"

"Ah." I don't even have to ask what she's looking at. "That's ODOLWA. It's spelled with all capitals. Don't ask."

She drops my tunic and stares at me hard in the face. "It's name was Odolwa?"

"I know."

"Names..." Lost 'tsked'. "They are such odd things."

I'm finding it a little difficult to argue the point at the moment.

"But look at you Child! You have gone from us, and you have gotten yourself hurt. Cut and burned with the terrible fire. Shocked, I think, with the terrible lightning. And... chewed up? Were you chewed up?"

"On occasion..." I trail off, shuffling my feet uncomfortably under her hard gaze.

It's unsettling how well it fits Saria's face.

"It's no big deal." I tried to play off.

"And worst of all – most vexing of **all** is here." She places a hand gently on my heart. "They hurt you **here** and I will never forgive them. Never. They will know my wrath, Child." Mother growls. "They will know it and their blood shall weep at the telling. I will let them hurt you no more. I will not wait this time. I remember my last child. He who went first out of my shade. He who went chasing after the slave faries. I waited too long. It was only a few seasons, but he was so unprovided for. He was undernourished, and raw against the hail of man's indifference. He died, ill and hungry, away from us. He died and didn't come back."

"That's where the legend comes from." I breathe. "_That's _what they all mean. A kokkiri dies when they leave the forest. But not right away. _Eventually."_

"Eventually." Mother frowns. "Now there is a terrible word. Eventually is always too soon. It is past in the blink of an eye."

Mother...

"I waited too long then, to send my other children to fetch what was lost. I lost that one.. forever..."

Oh...

"You won't lose me." I tell her. "I'll be fine."

Mother graces me with a thin smile. "Of course I won't, Child. You are home. You will not leave again."

"Mother..." I trial off. This is bad. "You..." And I hesitate to say this. "You... can't..." It has never been wise to tell mother what she couldn't do. "...keep me here."

"Well of course." She blinks owlishly at me. "I never could. It's why I let you leave the first time, Child. I can't _keep you_. It isn't my place. Youget to _choose_. You_ always_ get to choose. You are... mnn." She pursed her lips. "What's the word? There's a... name... or a title. It's so very old... You're... oh, you know very well what you are Child." She waves dismissively. "You are _that_ thing. The apex. The utterly inedible thing. The one whom Marno fears. The Allmother made us promise, at the dawn of life, when she plucked you out of the sea of souls. She made us promise to let you be free. It's your place. Your prize. You are to be free."

I blink.

I... have no idea what she just said.

I... get a prize? Seriously?

"But I have learned from my past, Child. The last time, I sent my other children to get the lost one back. It was too late, and on his dying breath begged me not to attack those that had brought him to his end. He... was very kind." Lost tapped Saria's fingers together in thought. "I learned then, that there were many ways to solve problems with the outside. There was a... scuffle of sorts. Some form of enormous scuffle, and it was tying up my fairies. If I could not have my child back, I wished for my faries at least, and so I sent another child out to attack the other side." Lost beamed. "It was very clever. Once they were done with, the faeries could be called back without having to attack the first side, and break our promise with the child we lost." She seemed quite pleased with herself. "Yes, it was this one, in fact. I can tell." She said, observing Saria's little hands. "Yes. Because I can still smell the blood on her."

The Fairy War. Saria's past. Kokiri lore.

I was just now seeing the connection of it all.

"I cannot keep you, Child." Lost smiled. "But I can end your cause of leaving."

And the attack on the caravan.

That was the last piece.

She would attack the other side.

She would kill the thing I was planning to leave for.

...Lillian. Zelda got one drill-raven. Lillian got all the rest., because I liked her better.

I should have never got involved with her.

* * *

A/N:I will say this. I actually have come to really enjoy writing non-human characters. The ways they look at things are just so different. It's fun.

Note 'the terrible fire' and 'the terrible lightning'.

Cuz she's a forest. Amirite?

Reviews if you plz.


	27. Triangle 27

A/N: Yawn.

* * *

Triangle 27 - Resolution

"Mother." I pull away. "Please don't. They're… She's… a friend."

"Child." She addresses me indolently. "Mother knows best."

… This is bad.

This is _really bad._

"Um…" I mutter. "T-Time out!"

And I run to huddle in a corner.

Navi, emergency meeting.

"Navi." I whisper fervently. "What the scrub."

"Yeah. Uh… I have to admit." She whispers in my ear. "I did not see this coming."

"I knew it was bad to get involved with princesses. I knew it."

"Having a hard time arguing the point right now." Navi replied.

"What the scrub am I going to do? _What _am I _going _to _do?_ I can't… I…"

"…Well…" Navi begins, slowly. "…Whatever happens, we can't let her go though with her plan. It's… wrong. It's… terrible."

I stare at her in wonder. "What are you trying to say?"

"Partner," Navi sighs, "I think you know what I'm trying to say."

"No way." I tell her. "It's impossible."

"We'll try and talk her out of it, okay?" Navi insists. "I, um, I think we have a shot at settling things nice and simply."

"Listen to yourself, Navi." I tell her, for I read the subtext clearly. "Listen to what you're trying to say. Do you know who that is? It's _Lost_, Navi. I can't fight her. No one _fights _her."

"It won't come to that!" Navi insists. "…Probably. Maybe."

Mother was known for a lot of things. Changing her mind wasn't one of them.

"It's impossible." I say. "No way."

I have killed dragons. I have slain shadows, and ghosts, and ghouls, and an evil tribal God.

But Lost was out of my capabilities.

"Let's go talk things out." Navi insists.

"I can't fight her, Navi." I repeat, as my final words to her before we finish walking back to Saria's stump. "Nothing _fights _her."

I can't even get to the point of planning out non-lethal combat techniques. _Anti-God nonlethal combat techniques._

My mind screeches to a halt before I even get there.

I just can't.

"If talks fall out, partner," Navi replies sadly, "you'll need to do _something._"

…Oh Gods.

Oh Farore.

What is to happen to me?

Navi drops to the floor before Lost, a single light amongst the fireflies that still kneel all around. "Great Mother," she began, shakily, "I appeal to the All Mother's principles. It would be a waste of life…"

"Life is ephemeral." Lost responds. "It comes and it goes, and is never truly lost."

In Saria's body, the Goddess shrugs. "They shall be reduced to nourishment for my poor plants and insects, to replace those they have trampled."

"Um…" Navi flounders.

Scrubshit.

"Er…" Navi panics. "What of their individual freedoms? They… just want to travel. Is that so bad?"

"I just want my child." Lost whispered as she leaned down slightly to take a closer look at Navi. "Is that so bad?"

"Er…" Navi flies up to my face. "T-Tag out."

That was short lived.

With a sigh, I pull my sword free of its scabbard. It frees with a quiet hiss, and Navi flutters uneasily by my ear.

She's having second thoughts.

Not me. I'm decided.

With a flick, because I am so familiar with the shape and form of the Kokkiri sword, I reverse my grip on it and hold it out towards Lost.

Lost tilt's Saria's head inquisitively to the side. "Child?" She asks.

"Mother, there are these things in the outside world called 'princesses'." I explain. "And they have caused me all manner of grief, but not only of their fault. To be honest, I feared and disliked them." I admit. "But recently, I have come to befriend one, and I have come to forgive the other."

"I… see." Lost says slowly. "But child, what is this?" she asks, placing a hand over mine, as it held the Kokkiri sword out.

"This is what you are doing to my heart." I let the blade rest upon my heart.

Startled, Lost pulls back as if burned. "Yes, alright child." She says quickly. "Yes, I get the point, put the fang down. That's enough of that." She tells me. "Stop it."

I sigh, and do so.

Lost steps in and places a hand over my heart. "Oh." She tsk's. "Hm…."

"Mother, I could stay within your boundaries. I could try to advise them from within the forest, since they do skirt the edge for their journey. I could just promise to stay, and then you'd have no cause to attack them save for spite."

"I would." She mutters, absently, still engrossed in whatever extrasensory perception is required to feel out another person's emotional state. "I would make use of them, for fertilization of the soil, rather than forgive what they have done. What they've yet to do. And really, I've no reason not to."

"Mother, I think forgiveness is good." I explain. "At least, I've felt better since I've started to forgive them. And it would be nice if I could stay with them, and continue it. I would like to find some peace there. I would like… closure."

"Forgiveness…" Lost muses. "Forgiveness…" She muses again, as if rolling the word around in her mouth. "Yes, well… this one is old." She admits. "And cranky. And all out of forgiveness. But you! Yes, you're young." She affirms, patting my shoulders and thin arms as if she could confirm it through touch. "Yes." She nods. "You are the youngest young one. I keep forgetting. Your soul is so very old that I always forget. I'm… sorry, my Child." She admits.

Lost… never apologizes.

"I never meant to hurt you here." She tells me honestly, holding a hand over my heart. "Here are where the worst of the worst wounds can lie. All else we grow over, and recover through, and evolve stronger from. We live on. But here, in the heart... That is what causes us to stop appreciating it. Wounds there can make us forget to enjoy the long journey." She tells me sadly, as she affixes my eyes with hers. "And then what is the point?"

I have no answer for her.

She is just too wise.

"Yes. All right." She agrees, and then walks back to her Saria's stump and crouches down. "You may do your thing, Child, and come home when you are settled one way or another."

Air 'whoosh'es out of me in a rush. "Thank you." I say earnestly.

Lost gives a noncommittal 'mn' sound, as she reaches around the stump.

She traces, I think, one of the age rings in the old stump.

My curiosity at her actions is finally answered when she stands up, and with a start I realize she has completed a spell.

Again, there was no flaring of celestial lights. There was no godly pressure upon the air.

But any creature with sense could feel it in their bones.

Our God had cast a spell.

"Mother?" I ask, as I see the old familiar tree stump do something I never thought it would do. "What are you doing?"

It was bearing a leaf. A long, large, sinuous green leaf was unfurling from the dead centre of Saria's tree stump.

"I am unsealing the other child's fang." Mother replies, not turning back to look at me.

Fang. Saria's?

What fang?

She called the Kokkiri sword Mido had leant me a 'fang'.

No, don't tell me.

"Not the soup spoon!" I cry.

"Idiot!" Navi body-slams my head. "She put that on the floor, remember?"

Oh. Right.

Mother shoots me an amused look, and reaches down to pluck the leaf from the stump. Miraculously, it continues to unfurl and spread until it curves backwards instead. The veins of the leaf, so thin and sprawling, seem to flash as they crawl and expand. They move, as if disconnected from the physical leaf itself. As if they swam through it, as they whipped together and bound in more and more readily discernable fashions.

It is at this point that I flinch. "It's a sword." I mutter in remorse. "That's not good."

In fairness, there is a small chance that it might just be a really big butter knife for the crackers and lemonade.

But I somehow doubt it.

"Huh?" Navi asks. "You sure? Because that really would suck."

Generally, swords involved being either attacked with the sword, or asked to do something improbable to attain the sword.

The latter didn't really bother me. Well, it did.

But not compared to the former.

"Yeah." I nod. "It's coming."

The veins seem to burn together, arcing in depictions now of sprawling wreaths. The leaf curls backwards until it stayed in a crescent shape.

Curved blades were usually meant for slashing, because the curve kept the blade from becoming too stuck when slashing into the enemy. It kept the slash smooth.

But this was different.

There was nothing that this blade would get stuck in, it was meant to cut through all.

The interior curve had an ominous feel…

Ah… it was the interior, which curved around towards the enemy.

It's meant to catch, like a scythe.

"It's meant to harvest." I say aloud.

"Havest what?" Navi asks.

"Heads, I think." I answer. "Or possibly limbs."

As faries were harvested, as if a resource.

I get it.

Lost walks slowly up to us and presents the blade for my inspection. There is nothing new to discern from it, other than it is indeed very beautiful. The handle is, of course, an enlarged leaf stem and there was no cross guard to speak of.

With the leaf veins wrapped into multicolored decorative paintings of wreaths, the body of the blade seemed to be some reflective, vibrant green metal.

It did not shine with the luster of any metal I knew, for I suppose it wasn't metal at all. But it held an unnatural rigidity to it and it certainly wasn't just a leaf anymore. It did not have a leaf's luster either. It was something… else.

The reach of it, even with the curve, seemed about equivalent to the Kokkiri blade. It made sense considering the intended user.

There was no counterbalance, but then I don't suspect that such a weapon needed one.

"This was created for my vengeance." Lost tells me. "Many, many seasons ago. I meant it to be the fang of my dear fearies, who had died in the outside… scuffle."

The war.

It's called a war.

"And I sent this child to extract my wrath." Lost continued to explain. "And she named it something that I can't recall… what? Oh, yes." Lost nodded, apparently having heard Saria from somewhere. "She named it 'Resolution'."

That's a foreboding name.

…Actually, since I know the history of what Saria did with it that's a _really _foreboding name.

Lost smiles. "That was the one time I saw a Child of mine leave and face matters so grave, before coming back."

I came back.

No, wait. I didn't really face all that much in this timeline.

Did I?

Terminia.

No, Terminia didn't happen. Not anymore.

"So child, I shall send you forth armed with this fang." Lost tells me. "I shall give it to you in a bit, after I sort out how I will wrap it and after we sit down to lemonade, and such."

… So it's a present.

Aw, Mother…

"But first, I will see your survival skills for myself, Child."

Ah, there's the bad news.

"Should I tackle the forest temple?" I ask her, cheerily. With this pace, it seems like she'll ask me to do such a thing.

Honestly, I'm getting off easy. It's so much infinitely more preferable than what I'd been worried about.

Being chewed out by Saria or having to fight Lost of all things.

Hahaha!

"Do you want me to go get one of Marno's Molars?" I ask. I could swing that. The giant, ancient, mother Wolfos didn't seem such a bother right now.

Mother laughed briefly at the thought. "No, though the thought of you dragging her tooth along amuses me. Chid, I told you, there was one successful combination. I can simply give you the 'Resolution'." She waved the dangerous blade before me. "But you must show me you are the better of the other Child."

I pale.

Oh no.

No, no, no.

"Now, don't worry." Lost smiles. "I shall cast a spell of illusion, and she shall be perfectly safe no matter what you do… unless you break the illusion." Lost amends. "And I will tell you if you do."

Oh, gee, that's nice.

Wait, no.

Not Saria.

How about ten Mido's?

Before I can get the words out, I black out for a very brief moment. It's so short, in fact, that I am able to catch myself before I hit the floor. I land in a kneel instead.

And I know that it is all too late, because although the clearing remains visually unchanged. Although the stars are where they should be in the sky and the firelfies have taken to the sky above us for maximum illumination…

I can feel it in my bones.

A God has used magic.

And with an audible groan I look at Saria's form where she has also caught herself in a kneel.

And our eyes meet, and she gives me that sort of cheerful smile, and I'm pretty much ready to bolt.

"Yeah." Navi mutters beside me. Thankfully Lost seemed to see fit to include her in the illusion. "You're screwed."

Thanks Navi. You're real helpful.

"I gave the other Child a little something." Mother said, seeming to still feel like borrowing Saria's voice. She boomed in from all around us, which I suppose was appropriate. "It seemed unfair otherwise."

And then Saria blinked, before taking off her hat and frowning as she reached into it.

No, c'mon. Give me a break.

Mother didn't even give me all my tools. She just left me with what I brought: namely this stupid hand-me down second hand crap I got from Mido.

This is not cool.

With a raised eyebrow, Saria pulls forth 'Resolution' and gives me a shrug.

Somehow it is the most ominous action I have ever seen.

* * *

A/N: Okay, taking bets.

Is this where the hero gets his ass handed to him but survives, so that he can come back stronger than ever after a soul-searching trainign montage?

Or does he win?

I don't know about you, but I'm betting for the lemonade and crackers to win.

...You just can't beat lemonade and crackers (ba-dam-bum-cha!).


	28. Triangle 28

A/N: Hello kiddies. If you need a recap of the last episode, it is this: Link and Saria have to fight in an illusionary world made by the personification of the Lost Woods, in order for Link to prove himself tough enough a chap to survive the outside world, cuz' Lost is one of those moms that worries about mortal danger: who knew? If Link fails, she will eradicate the Terminan/Hylian army so that he won't have any reason to leave her (She claims that he holds a right to freedom, by Farore edict)

* * *

Triangle 28 - Denial

Saria….

Nothing fights Saria.

But, here I am, in this illusion world.

And there she is, stretching and doing practice bounces.

Split step. Half step. Cross step. And what can only be described as a ballerina fluttering maneuver that can't possibly have any place in sensible combat.

"Link. Plan?" Navi asks. "Are you ok?"

"Nothing fights her, Navi."

"I know she's something else, Link." Navi explained. "Mana, even here, coils and… bubbles around her. Like it loves her, even in an artificial world, and wants nothing more than to throw itself at her to be used. The very mana of the spell that keeps us here is being tugged around through nothing but presence. B-But, uh," she seems to have realized that her depressing analysis wasn't helping, "But she's no Gannon. Nothing's Gannon. We can power through this!"

"That's not it!"

That's not…

…it.

"Nothing fights her, Navi." I try to explain. "They wouldn't dare."

"Ah… huh?" Navi asks.

Saria comes sprinting at me. She really does, in an honest to goddess sprint. Up on her toes and with arms pumping, and everything.

And she leaps! As if in a long jump competition only for her, she leaps and then twists into this terrible dervish of barely glinting steel.

It's so out of place. It's so… odd, that my head freezes, and I react totally on instinct.

The next thing I know, I've thrown a shield-covered arm out to ram wood into her ankle, and in doing so… shattering it.

I gasp. I try to arrest my motion. It's too late.

But thankfully it doesn't matter.

Saria pulls the left foot, and stomps down with the right.

Next thing I know, she's perched on my shield with her pulled back left foot.

Oh.

That's where Shadow Link got it from.

He must have pulled it from some memory of Saria… dancing.

It's odd. But she cries "ha!" loudly as she snaps my chin back with a swift kick.

There is a moment there, just a single perfect moment that I have experienced on occasion, where time slows down to a crawl.

I can feel her weight on my shield arm, as gravity begins to demand that Saria fall. It wouldn't matter if she did, I know. Her original attack was aerial to begin with, and her positioning has not grown any worse.

But, there in that moment, I can see her reared back leg. And in a flash of inspiration, I can see myself sliding my blade beneath my upheld shield, out of her sight, aligning it with the edge at the last moment, and letting momentum take care of the rest. A perfect counter. She wouldn't know what hit her, because nothing would. It would all be her.

And I feel sick.

Something must be wrong with me.

This is what I have to think to myself, after her kick snaps me to the ground.

I pull myself to my knees and I shake my head. No. I didn't do it.

I didn't do it.

Nayru's mercy. I didn't do it.

And I can't do it.

I came here, fretting about the foe I'd never faced the likes of before:

Angry mom.

Saria wasn't that, but perhaps it was worse. She was…

She was… maturity amongst children. She was logic and peace, and that chiding hand that you listened to because they just knew better.

She was more than any boss or even the Deku Tree.

The Deku Tree, we revered and respected.

But he was off in his grove.

Saria was at home, making every day work out.

Nothing fights Saria.

Nothing could be so cruel.

"Forget it." I say weakly. "Not happening. Can't do it."

Yes.

I feel something in my mind grip then. Traction, I guess, on the meeting of reality and my own child sized gonads.

"Li – you can't say that all of a sudden!" Navi exclaims.

"I just won't!" I explain, pushing down forcefully with my arms, sending me to my feet.

And just in time, too, because Saria swoops in after me, cutting so low and so smoothly that the grass beneath us slides over at the seam, rather than being sent flying as she swept past.

It's not a chopping weapon, I realize in that instant. And she is not a chopping fighter.

They separate.

Saria doesn't get up and righten her stance. She curls into a roll, then stretches out of it, swinging her arm wide and cuts again – forcing me to jump back. And again. And again.

Navi head butts me with her puny form. "Hey! You know this isn't real, right? It's all spellcraft!"

Navi. No.

If we're really to live courageously free, then there are lines we must draw in the world. And we stand up and we say: "There, that's it. There, and no more."

And I've been through too much. I've grit my teeth, and given in. I've erased those lines, over and over, and drawn new ones. And so ok, I'll do that extra temple. I'll face the next burn, the lightning, the ice, and the dark of night. I'll do the one more, and the two more, and the three more.

But I did it all for them. My friends. My family.

At least it's me, and not the Milly twins. They were such crybabies. And Burnl was too peaceful at heart. And Saria, she had done too much for me. At least it wasn't her. And Malon? Malon was a sweet girl. All tough, but I bet she wouldn't hurt a fly. And all the other people I'd met. And at least they will all be saved.

They are the last of the last lines, and I don't care if its illusion or pollution or even a magical sword called 'Resolution'.

I have walked the line between life and death because there are lines more important than that, which I shall never scuff with my boot. I will not swing my sword on Saria, ever.

I haven't the time to get into a big discussion about it. But I will Navi to understand.

Navi makes an indistinguishable, garbling sound, apparently in stifling of her outrage. "You make my job so much harder than it has to be."

Oh, you know me Nav. My job is making yours harder.

"Talking to your fairy?" Saria asks in a quip, from a distance that is almost nose-to-nose. It's indescribable how she has invaded my space so quickly. "That might be trouble." She's nose-to-nose, from almost throwing her upper body in my direction, and in theory she's full of openings. But being so close, neither of us can see the stance or weapons of the other, and the raw force of her initiative is enough to make me roll away from the possible blind exchange.

I come to a stand, and find that it's all gone wrong. Saria's still smiling. "It occurred to me that this is the first time you'll be sparring with another kokkiri, properly. With your fairy with you." She shrugged. "By the way, you should know: We kokkiri have never once forgotten about our partners. They are always somewhere around, a part of us. Combat is… the same."

Oh no. I forgot. Saria's fairy.

Where's Selina?

"Huh?" Navi asks, spinning around, just in time to be brought to ground by a little ball of pink light blazing across the sky. "Oof!"

"It's on, newbie!"

Scrubshit!

"We never fight alone, Link." Saria explained, in a tone that was… actually quite patient and sincere. "Remember that."

From anyone else, it would be condescending.

God, if Mido had said that I'd be lobbing bombs and fire arrows right now.

But from Saria it's just another lesson.

Tie your shoes like this, Link. Don't forget to brush your teeth, Link.

Keep an eye on your fairy's condition, Link.

Oh man, what am I even doing here?

"Lesson 2…." Saria began, before faltering. "… I wish I didn't have to show you that. Once you see them this way, they will just never be the same. But if you really are going to defeat me, and take 'Resolution', and leave this place… you will have to learn."

Oh no. It's coming.

I've never seen her fight but it has to be something like this.

"Lesson 2…"

Magic.

**"Magic."  
**  
I run. Got to get Navi up. She needs to think me out of this mess.

**"Chop."  
**  
I'd seen it before. A hundred times. I used to watch her in the kitchen, on a little stool so that I could see the counter.

I never really knew what it was that was separating those slices of tomato, but I can see it now. The huge crescent, as it cleaves its way through the air towards me.

And it's strange, but I swear that the first thing through my mind, despite it all, is…

Wow. So that's what it looks like.

Followed, of course, by: I'd better roll to the side.

Her follow-up approach, again, is composed of unusual and flighty movements.

All kokkiri knew the bounce-step. We used it to dodge in tag. We used it to fight. We used it to escape being cornered by wolfos and flee. We used it to dance. To play with our fairies, that could change course with the wind.

It was that way of softly moving from foot to foot. Feeling one's own weight. Priming one's muscles. Prepping for movement. Establishing a rhythm.

Float like a fairy. Sting like a bee.

But saria barely touched the ground. She changed vectors with the barest touch of her toes upon the earth. Clearly there was some other charm at work here. Possibly a weight loss one. I don't know about any such charm but if there were one, I'm sure the girls would keep it to themselves. They were always looking for ways to cheat the scale.

Left, right. A little turn to even show me her unprotected back.

And, right before striking distance, a beautiful aerial backflip that takes her above my head.

I can only call it unnecessary.

Whatever unconventional style Saria has picked up, all combat I have ever seen has boiled down to angles and emotion.

As she manages to leap above me with her gymnast-like flip, there is just no good way for her to hit me.

So I put my shield above my head, and grit my teeth.

She's not a swordsman. She's not a mage.

She's a kokkiri. And we, I'm finding out now, fight differently. Not the flashy brilliance of a mage. Not the armor of a knight. And not their slowness. Not their predictability.

Not smartness.

Cleverness.

I'm learning so much.

**"Push."  
**  
A shockwave of force ripples down around me. The charm for moving furniture and clearing landslides threatens to clear me away like the inanimate objects it is accustomed to. Maybe it's because it's inanimate, or maybe Mido just didn't take care of his stuff, but the shield straps snap as it takes the blow. It survived the majority of the force, though, and I stand through the rest.

I cannot buckle here. Need to keep on my toes.

I twist, once the shockwave passes, and face her. There's nothing directly behind me.

I look up.

She must have cancelled the weight-charm to use push, and then used the counterforce from 'push' to handspring on empty air. Why? Why not? She's there, perched on the wall, seemingly stuck.

And for a moment I think she's used another household charm again, and at least that meant that her hands were just hands now and not tools of mass insanity, before I realize that it's just art again. She's just living in the time it takes for gravity to catch up to her. She reaches out in that moment, and briefly grazes my forehead with her right index finger. It's so simple and unthreatening an action, I don't properly note it until contact is already made.

And, despite the sound of blood pounding in my own ears, I hear a 'click' somewhere.

**"Lock."  
**  
Lock?

Lock _what?!  
_  
She springs off of the wall in a reverse roundhouse aiming for my head.

I snap my fingers. Deku Stick. Shield was down, but I could block with a stick, without hurting her.

Ooof!

What….

What?

I roll to my feet, and hop back to avoid another 'chop' charm. It is the first in a series of many.

Snap. Deku stick to vault over it!

Snap. Bombs to cancel it out!

Snap. Bottle to… to I don't know! Just… just bottle!

Come on!

But nothing came.

I had to duck the first, twist around the second, and perform an honest-to-goddess lateral vaulting high jump on the last.

And I landed on my butt.

Lock…

She locked it.

My _hatspace_… she locked it.

I scramble up.

"Lesson 3." She told me. "Nothing is sacred on the battlefield."

And she looked so sad, saying it.

Oh Saria.

**"Push."  
**  
She knocks me from one end of the grove, straight into her tree stump in the center. I bounce off the edge painfully, like a pinball, and land on the other side of it.

As I pull myself up, I have to note the lay of the field. Saria's stump before me. The fireflies above us, and between us a pair of pink and white dancing lights.

Navi.

The collared lights rammed together and twisted about in the air above my head.

"Agh! Not the hair! That's foul!" My fairy partner cried. "What are you, six?!"

"Wow girlfriend, look at these split ends!" Selina exclaimed. "We're going for a makeover after I finish kicking your butt."

Navi wasn't doing too well.

And then I had an idea.

"Navi." I said. "You have more colors than her."

"I what?" She demanded.

But I couldn't say anymore without giving it away. Besides, I think Saria's been left alone too long. By now, she's probably…

**"Toymake."**I hear.

Oh.

Huh.

Evidently, we did have more complex charms. One of those, apparently, could be used to make a two story tall monstrosity of packed earth and rock. It was a nice action figure made out of connected blocks, in the very rough shape of a man with a kokkiri hat of knitted grass. I wouldn't be surprised if it could transform into a giant horse or something.

It turned its indistinct stone face towards me. It raised a large, blocky hand above its head.

And I shrugged. This was all really out of place, compared to the previous frantic fight to stay in one piece.

Meh.

Giant magical earth golem?

Awesome as an action figure.

Boss Key guard at best.

I flick my sword to the side, and enchant it with a bit of magic I'd picked up in Termina.

It tickled my fancy that all my arrow spells could be found over there. Of course Light arrows had a special place in my heart for amazing evil overlord-stunning properties. But I'd always been rather partial to the simple utility of the fire arrow.

Having acquired the elemental set twice, and saving two worlds with them, I had picked up a few tricks.

An 'arrow' you see, was anything that flew.

And this sword hasn't been doing me much good for swordliness.

The excess magic will probably melt the blade in a while, but it's Mido's anyway.

And I let it 'fly'.

An easy javelin throw into the golem's elbow breaks the joint apart. Its own oversized rock hand falls freely upon its clear slab of a head, and the structure collapses into a pile of rubble. It's more earth than rock after all. No fortitude.

Five seconds max.

I look past the rubble, expecting more immediate trouble, but I get none.

It's simply quiet in the clearing, as Saria, the fairy, and even the fireflies that light our battle suspend still.

"What was that?" Saria asked. I barely caught it her words, since she was on the other side of the field.

That? That was nothing.

"Oh." Navi said, breaking the silence. "I get it. I have more colors than her."

And with a start, the two fairy lights before me rose high into the sky. I presume that Navi's ramming Selina up there.

Good girl.

She flashes from her customary light-blue to orange, green, and settles at last as the pair flies into the cloud of fireflies. She settles on firefly white.

"Um." Selina muttered. "What?"

With a camouflage backdrop, I can't say that I can make out any of the action. I doubt Selina can either, as she's smashed by hit and run from Navi's superior flight speed. It's a blitzing, and it ends with Saria's fairy knocked out and my fairy perched upon my shoulder in exhausted victory.

"Nice advice." She panted.

"Might just be able to do my own advice from now on." I comment.

"That'll be the day." Navi snorts.

"Did you figure out how I deal with Saria?" I ask.

"'Looks'." She muttered to me. "Didn't you always want to win?"

What?

"New rule." She declared. "It's always your turn."

I stare at her.

You have to be joking.

"Didn't you say you couldn't bring yourself to engage in illusionary combat with the veteran army killing kokkiri in front of you? You're the crazy one here." Navi protested. "I'm just along for the ride."

…

…You're a genius, Navi.

"Look out!" My fairy cries, and I feel a sense of calm wash over me.

Excellent fairy partner recovered. Plan in mind. Not out to do anything weird or taboo, like dismantling my best friend.

Just a little game.

I'm going to win it for a change.

Navi's warning corresponded to one of Saria's long-range 'chop' attacks. I've gotten used to dodging them already.

I think Saria noticed that, because she closes the distance even as she launches another. We run at each other, towards the middle of the clearing. I dive head-first over her next chop, and turn my subsequent meeting with the ground into a roll.

I've made it to the tree stump first, rolled into a crouch. And, with an admittedly significant amount of weariness, I seize victory within my hands.

I seize the previously discarded Soup Spoon of Tactile Denial. She'd dropped it.

She'd dropped it shortly after we'd first met in this clearing.

And now... Farore, Nayru, and Din protect me... it was within my hands.

I mean your master no great harm, O mighty Soup Spoon of Tactile Denial. It's just a friendly game. Do not curse me.

"Link. What the scrub-loving crap are you doing." Navi deadpanned. It wasn't a question. She knew exactly what I was doing. "You can't be serious."

I rose up, armed, and met Saria's charge with an upward slash to meet her.

Saria swung and 'Resolution' came swinging down, the enchanted fey blade of my Mother's crafting. Slayer of a thousand Hylians, and retribution of fairy-kind given form. It came upon me and the Soup Spoon of Denial and stopped cold in its tracks. I met Saria in a deadlock.

I knew it wasn't a regular soup spoon. I just knew it.

"You can't be serious!" Navi exclaimed. "What the – I don't even –"

Saria pouted.

I don't care for your sword Saria. I'd much prefer this Spoon.

It may be plain looking. And it may not be a weapon at all. But this Soup Spoon is far better suited for my needs, because it will not hurt you. This is _my_Resolution.

Her other arm raised, I think to 'push' me.

But I stepped in, until our noses almost touched. And as she stepped back, I stepped forwards, keeping our deadlock in place. She could not get her hand between us.

And I raised my own off-hand to just beside her face. There, I snapped my fingers once. It was the generic trigger to summon hatspace. I could not, of course, she'd locked it.

But this was kokkiri combat. Saria had said so. It's different.

And I'm sure… that she will flinch on reflex.

I see her eyes dart to the side and that is enough.

As I recall, the party game 'Looks' is one where the one who is tricked into looking away gets a punishment hit.

I pull back immediately.

Saria blinks, and pushes her hand forwards to use her charm. Of course she does.

Made you look.

But as she had done so many times before, when I was a little guy looking for the merest taste testing of soup, I thwack her outreach away.

Despite herself, she winces.

Stings, doesn't it? This spoon is no gentle thing.

Know fear and retribution.

Saria shoots me a sour look, before spinning into a pair of alternating high and low kicks.

Duck. Hop.

One to my midsection? Just catch it.

She's so light. Her kicks have force, because she spins so sharply into them. But compared to a rolling Goron or even just a Lizardfos… she's just so light.

Saria… you weren't made for fighting.

One day, you just got stuck with the job, didn't you…

… Just like me.

But Goddesses… you're just too light.

She snaps out the command "Warm" and suddenly I find her boot too hot to handle.

I block her swipe at my head, only to have her twist around me. The curved inner edge of her blade is meant to harvest, sure, and was never meant to be stopped by either stone or steel. But when stopped anyway, it served well as a grappling tool. She twisted around me like this, pulling my sword aside, and as she came behind me she slapped me across the temple with the back of her blade.

She didn't even take the time to reorient the edge for that. She knew that if she did, I would have blocked it.

She… probably has more experience than me. Fighting an intelligent opponent, that is.

All those Hylians….

Navi flashes and flies.

I take the cues. Without turning to face Saria, I block the swipe at my right thigh. I block the swipe at my right temple. I block the swipe at my right torso, and then I step back, into her chest. I can look over my shoulder and see her pouting face.

"Lesson one was we don't fight alone." I recall.

Saria blinks, and then purses her lips briefly in thought. "Good boy." She praises, after a pause. "That's right."

Saria's fighting style is really quick, and tricky. But Navi's quicker. That's all there is to it.

I reach up in that moment, and grab Navi by the leg. Dangling her as such, Saria can't help but stare.

"Made you look." I say.

Saria raised an eyebrow. We twist away to break the deadlock.

"That was not cool, Link." Navi chides. "Do I look like Tinkerbelle? If you shake me, pixie dust doesn't come out. I just get pissed and lead you into a brick wall one day."

Sacrifices must be made during combat, Navi.

Saria quickly darts left and right, so light on her feet and flighty that every single moment except the very last one before her strike all account as feints. That included a flurry of 'chop' spells as she twists and dances our distance closed.

But knowing that, one must simply react only to the very last moment.

Which one will be the last? It's simple. Only the best, and most beautiful one.

A missed swipe leads into her modifying her grip on 'Resolution', and a subtle coiling of the whole body.

Ah. There.

She wants to Spin Attack.

One moment she's crouched, her sword is at her side. The next moment it's flying at my chest in a perfect circle.

I'd long since learned to perform spin attacks at a moment's notice. A Great Fairy had taught me to toss magic into it as well.

As such, I meet Saria's attack with my own. The forces cancel out both our movements immediately on contact, but I see Saria reeling more.

This is my own magic, which I hadn't learned in the village. "Lesson two was magic." I recall, whacking her on the head belatedly for her earlier miss-look.

I've figured Saria out, more or less, and it's two-on-one with Navi here.

And, thank Farore, my head's working right again. I can handle the thought of playing a party game with death.

We just have to trudge through the process.

* * *

I don't know how long it's been. The world is… exactly the same, actually.

Is this real? I can't even.

Saria's just standing there before me, under the incandescent glow of our firefly audience, looking at me oddly. "Child," she suddenly snapped, "what have you done?"

"I unwound your spell Mother." Saria replied to herself. "The fight had become… meaningless."

Right. She's still channeling 'Lost' in the real world.

Oh man, how long has it been…

I'm so tired.

But only my mind. My body's full of energy and in the peak of health. That's so weird.

"I lose, Mother." Saria explains, dropping 'Resolution'. "He isn't too fast, or too strong, or too skilled for me. But everything stopped working anyways. I feel like scissors, and Link is rock. And no matter how hard I may be; even if I were harder than any rock, I would still break upon him. It was just…" Saria searched for the word.

"Natural. Yes." Saria replied to herself, in 'Lost's tone. "You are prey to him. All are prey to him. And that is good. It puts me at ease that he may leave and live well. But Child, Other Child was more wounded." Lost, as Saria, spoke to herself.

"No Mother." Saria shook her head. "It's cuz' he wouldn't hit me for real."

"Why ever not? I made a very proper illusionary world."

"Because he's too much of a boy, Mother." Saria sighed.

I wince.

"He's all macho, and thinks girls are frail and should stay at home and cook, and stuff."

I wince more.

"Ow." Navi whispered. "She's brutal."

I know.

"I think maybe you pissed her off by not fighting her seriously." Navi continued.

Maybe a little. When she gets angry, she takes it out on you in a weird round-a-bout way.

"If she's a warrior," Navi continued, "come to think of it, that would be pretty rude."

You can stop now, Navi.

"But Child." 'Lost' Saria said to herself. "As a sex, Women are far stronger."

Saria shrugged. "I know, right?"

"How odd."

"It- It's not like that." I say finally, suddenly charged with the task of defending my good name.

"Then what?" Saria tilted her head.

"I… just didn't want to." I say lamely.

"That's not a reason." Saria said.

"It is." I defended. "You're my friend. And my…"

It was hard to define Saria. She'd had a big hand in raising me, too. And teaching me. But we messed around and played tag, and were equals in a weird way. And I looked after her sometimes, when she'd let me, in a weird way.

"You're my Saria." I finish lamely. "So I didn't want to fight. The whole thing was stupid."

Saria's posture changed. It was 'Lost' that would speak to me next. "Child. Sometimes, you have to do things you don't want to do." 'Lost' Saria explained.

"Well… Mother, who said that?" I asked back.

'Lost' blinked. "I did."

If 'Lost' says something, people listen.

But I frown. "No you didn't." I say with surety. I'm really clear on this point. "Neither of you did. You taught me to be brave. And to be free, even if I had to fight for it. And to not, ever, let anyone make me thing any other way."

That's Kokkiri 101

'Lost' Saria opened her regal mouth.

She paused there for a second.

Then she closed it with a click.

"Oh… Oh Child." 'Lost' said softly. "You grow up so fast. Is that normal? Growing up so fast? There's no rush. I wish you wouldn't rush. I so wish you wouldn't rush."

It's amazing... how sometimes people say things, and they just hit really close to home all of a sudden.

"I… I didn't mean to." I say thickly. "It just sort of… happened."

"That's really such a shame." Saria, normal Saria, said consolingly.

"…Yeah."

"…Sit down with the Lemonade." Saria said, grabbing me by the hand. "I'm going to coddle you."

It bothers me only a little, that I don't know which Saria said that.

* * *

A/N: If you found the 'Lost' dialogue confusing, well it seemed appropriate. Just imagine how Link must feel.

This, more or less, concludes the 'kokkiri' arc of the story. Next I have no idea. Maybe a little Zelda centric arc.

Bets were:

Win 7

Lose 2

Tie 1

A few people guessed that the soup spoon would be really important. A lot of people expected Link to have to run around before he figured something out. No one really came out and said that he would have a problem fighting her because she was his childhood friend. I found some of the ideas really interesting.

Anyone got their hands on a good skyward sword fic? Like golden power or ascension or shadow lord's bane level good. Like really good?

x-Trivia corner-x

Last chapter was named after/with a pun on Saria's sword, 'Resolution'. This chapter was named after/with a pun on 'The Soup Spoon of Tactile Denial'.

To be clear, Link's got 'Resolution' now. The sword. It's properties are:

The edge of the blade is as thin as a leaf.

Is very light.

Does not reflect much light.

Is pretty much tough as daimond.

Has some synergy with kokkiri magic.

And it will probably not be very relevant in the future, in terms of combat prowess. It is more a man-cleaver than a monster-cleaver.

He does not get to keep the Soup Spoon of Tactile Denial. Frankly, it scares him anyway.

This is the first time, ever, that Link has won 'Looks' against another kokkiri.

Please Please Review.


	29. Chapter 29

A/N: I'm late. I'm late. I know that I'm late on this update, compared to my promise due to the review a song campaign. I have made this one longer as apology. This one also just took a long ass time to sort out.

Too much is happening now, so let's put the campaign on hold. Thank you all for your responses though.

* * *

Triangle 29

_ of Courage.

"Sword of Courage?" The little fairy asks. "What's that?"

Princess Lillian blinks. "Why, it's that thing. Sir Link told me about it just now."

"Oh. That thing." The fairy repeats. "Wait, that thing? Or _that thing? _Surely not **that thing.**"

Princess Lillian 'hmm'ed. "I'm unsure, but I think it must be one of those."

"I see."

Do you really?! From this conversation, either one of you could be talking about literally anything!

Are you actually following this conversation, little fairy?! Aren't you just trying to sound as if you're well informed?!

"So…" The pink healer begins. "…what's a sword then?"

I see. I understand.

This is a complete non-conversation. It all makes sense now.

"Oh!" The fairy exclaimed. "You don't mean the Wings of Courage do you?" She asked. "The greatest freedom in the world, and the most easily misplaced?"

"That sounds very like it." Princess Lillian agreed. "Except more sword-like, please."

"Well, what's a sword then?" The fairy asked in exhasperation.

"It's a swing-y thing?"

Why do you sound confused Princess Lillian?!

"Tree branch?" The fairy hazarded. "Of Courage?"

I've had enough of this.

"It hurts." I explain. "That is its basic function. The kokkiri might carry them."

"Oh! The nimble stingers! Those are called swords then." The fairy exclaimed. "I will tell you then about the Sword of Courage."

I wonder if this fairy simply likes sounding all-knowing, and whether she really knows anything at all?

"In this forest, there are many things that are dangerous and vile." The fairy explains, coughing twice in an apparent need to seem as if she's composing herself for a speech. "There are frogs with sticky long tongues and bats sailing about at the speed of sound. There are snails with venom and snakes with three arms. Above all, our home is a place where things grow. Tomorrow the snail will find something better than venom. Tommorow the Toad will learn black magic. The cats hunt the dogs, until the dogs learn some new techniques. It's that kind of topsy-turvy fun place."

That doesn't sound awfully fun to me.

"Of course like this the food chain is a total mess. No one really knows where it starts and where the middle is, but one thing is clear, it ends with Marno. It ends with Marno and her great Fangs of Courage."

Marno. There is something interesting. Marno was discussed in passing several times between Sir Link and Navi. Miss Navi wrote a section about her in the little handbook created for our scouts. Marno was a great mother Wolfos and it was her trail we were using to transit two armies, and an assortment of materials and heavy artillery.

I assume she was quite large, but more information seemed to be beyond both Sir Link and Navi.

"In this forest, everything changes." The little fairy explained. "But for the sake of the hunt, Marno is unchallenged. She is the undisputed number two hunter in the **whole entire world**." The fairy said gravely.

That's not right. "I thought you said she was undisputed?" I inquired. "Why, then, is she second place?"

"Because number one has not disputed her." The fairy answers immediately.

I see. That makes perfect sense.

"Number one is the Million Fang, who has never been seen or known. But every year we ask Marno if she is still number two. Every year she repeats that she can feel the presence of a predator around her. Something that would eat her. She says that she can feel it, always there, in every tree and every rock. A nameless threat on all life. Presumably, the Million Fang simply stalks too well. The rest of us can't feel it, because we are not the hunters that Marno is. That's why Marno's trail is so broad. She covers it religiously because she has become nomadic. She won't stop. She will never, ever stop."

"You mean she is running away?" Princess Lillian asked in clarification.

I tried to imagine it. A great, big, terrible wolfos that itself lived constantly afraid.

"No." The fairy replied. "That is why Marno's Fangs of Courage are so terrible. She has been trying, for hundreds and hundreds of years, to out-maneuver her predator. She has trampled this path, and warded off all unsolicited forms of life, to create a battleground most maneuverable for her enormous girth. She lives seeking constant conflict with whatever new danger our forest spawns. Putting her size aside, she has lived facing her fear head on for enough time to become a legend. In the face of that willpower, no one in this forest would dare go after her neck. If you dare to evolve in a way that can kill her, Marno will surely come running at you, thinking that you might be Million Fang. In that way, she has become the undisputed apex predator of this world."

I see.

"The Sword of Courage is exactly the same thing as the Fang of Courage, isn't it?" I ask rhetorically. "In fact, it's the same thing as the Wings of Courage you mentioned briefly." Then upon musing, I discover something. "I shall go so far as to say that the most significant force you believe in is not any of the three Goddesses but simply," I gesture a blank space with a wave of my hand, "_ of Courage." Saying this, it is then that I am struck with the notion that I may be talking to a master philosopher. It also occurs to me that if all this is true, then we might be in quite a bit of unexpected trouble, and while Sir Link is away as well. "I'm sorry." I say simply. "You've given me a lot to think about. In fact, there's much I must now do. Could you perhaps support your belief of why the _ of Courage is so important? Please explain why, in theory, a metaphorical sword should be more powerful than a physical one that has allegedly been thrown by Farore herself, and slain an enormous dragon in a single blow. If at all possible, do so directly and concisely, and in a manner that is very easy to understand."

"Ok." The fairy agrees. "But I hope you understand that such a thing is absolutely no fun at all."

"I really am busy so it can't be helped." I explain sorrowfully. "Perhaps next time."

I get the distinct impression, even though I can't see anything through her shrouding pink fairyglow, that she's just shrugged at me. "It will work out. It is going to be all right. Din did not craft the world out of anything but simple rock. Nayru did not add any laws to the universe that would play favorite against you. The world is not complicated. We are complicated. Surely, if you shed what is bogging you down, there is something around you that will resolve everything neatly. Be brave and do so."

…

…

I stare at this little pink ball of magic, and I realize something.

This entire expedition was not worth it, because the people here are all too dangerous. Intellectual and commercial trade with Termina could not justify it. The matter of defending our borders and citizens against enormous monsters summoned by an evil sorcerer supreme should be a matter put aside for now.

There exists an entire nation of magical creatures that firmly believe nothing more highly than 'if there is a will, there is a way.'

They could rip Hyrule apart. They could sow it together. We could go to war. My general populous may transform into a collection of naturalists and liberals. There is no telling what they could possibly do were their attention to turn our way. It is total chaos and utterly impossible to predict. Our people were better off when our world had been mutually separate from this place and now we've already trampled halfway through this territory – it's too late to undo.

How does one arrange a meeting with 'Lost' or the Great Deku Tree…

I sigh. I straighten my skirt.

Whoever said that princesses had it easy wasn't named 'Zelda'.

Lets put this and that aside. Let us put to work this theory of courage over all. Decisive action and such. Maybe Link will look at me more if –

Put that aside as well.

"General." I address as I stand. "Tell the men to unpack the Ballistae. Tell the scouts to review pages eighteen to twenty-two of Miss Navi's forestry manual. Wake the mages. Then, get me four glasses of water."

My general frowns. "Excuse me Your Highness, what in the world –"

In response to what I'm certain is a very viable train of thought, I make the effort to reach into my droor and produce my little ceremonial tiara. With this piece of embroidered, thin metal, I brain my general across the face. His head dutifully snaps to the side as he grunts in pain, before he returns to look at me with an expression that is quite amazed. "I have no time. Do as I say without question, for I have much more to tell you to do."

And then, as daintily as possible, I place my tiara upon my head.

"Y-Yes, your Highness!" The man snaps to attention. Then, filled with a sense of urgency, he storms off.

Establishment of authority complete.

"Your majesty." Impa kneels before me.

I shall conduct operations from here. This bed shall be my throne. This frilly nightgown shall by my robes of office.

Tsk.

I should start going to bed in my livery.

"Your Shiekan stand ready… and confused." Impa repots helpfully.

"I don't have time for soft politics." I explain. "I need you to coerce the Terminan General with a convincing bluff that I can have his princess killed with a snap of my fingers. Then, repeat the orders I give to my own General."

Impa's expression undergoes a wonderful slacking. Her mouth hangs open a full inch. Another time, another place, I would have been publicly delighted.

"Can't you do it?" I ask.

"Well… yes." She agrees. They are forbidden from saying no to me. The Shiekan order do not actually teach their young the word 'no'. It is a vocabulary they learn in happenstance. They only teach 'yes' and 'kill'. 'Yes' for princesses deigned with the name 'Zelda' and as for the other it is not often worth mentioning. "Of course, Your Majesty." Impa affirms more strongly. She opens her mouth, most likely to ask me if I'm sure I would like her to personally launch this covert operation in the middle of a crowded caravan on high-alert status. But her gaze drifts briefly above my head and she seems to think better of it. Thank you. "By your will." She answers.

And in a moment she is mysteriously gone from my sight.

"Whoah." A little voice exclaimed. "You were a badass?" I turned to see the little healer fairy still resting upon Princess Lillian's lap. The princess herself holds both hands over her mouth with a truly wide-eyed expression. I apologize for the rough treatment of your General, Your Highness, but I can't be expected to rely on you to exert command over him... and the man himself is an intolerant idiot that I cannot trust with control over any delicate matters.

"No." I explain. "I'm just busy."

Busy, busy, busy. Be busy. Don't think. Be busy. This is the opposite of courage. This is clever running away. Run away from thinking about your fears by mechanical organizing elimination of the source of fear. No heart, and a clever approximation, but not courage.

No match for a Fang of Courage, but then I do not place faith in this absolute power of that Fang.

I am a Nayrunite. Courage may move mountains. But love moves nations. And my business is with the latter.

I really must work myself into my proper clothes. I ask Princess Lillian for help with this.

For her part, she doesn't seem to wish to get in my way, nor does she volunteer to help me control the troops. She seems content to trust me and be passive. Well, trust and passivity have always been her modus operandi. Well, she has probably received no training in this. I only have because my name is 'Zelda'. All 'Zelda's receive a different sort of teaching.

However, she is still a princess and understands basically what I am doing, probably better than my general or my Shiekan would, and wonders if I should be using the royal plurality. In this case I would, but for now I am attempting to be empathetic to this forest's individualistic thinking. I am trying to understand my potential… visitor.

It has recently come to my attention that there is a very dangerous wolfos that lives it's entire life chasing down that which it considers even more dangerous, and the unknown.

We are unknown.

Furthermore, this mysterious title of 'Million Fang' is ringing bells. It worries me because, honestly, what are we if not legion? That is the core of military power. I have ten thousand soldiers here with me. If each is one fang, then we will be called Ten-Thousand Fang. If counting all of our civilian populations, then indeed we really could be called Million-Fang. Rather, make it at least Fifty-Million Fang please.

And Marno must neither notice nor think that, or we will be in a great deal of trouble. I have no time to fool around. This is very serious territory right now.

Also, it was never too clear just what the terms were, that negotiated use of this trail. It had been handled on the kokkiri side, through the Deku tree and a medium named 'Saria.'

And it seems to me, that if this little fairy found her way here because she felt a disturbance within the ambient magic around us, then certainly this mystery hunter wolfos shall come knocking.

Because one thing was clear. There is no law here, but there is order. There is survival of the fittest and the rule of lethality. The fairy says that Marno is the second hunter, and Million Fang is the first.

Let us also note that 'Lost' was not a hunter. Lost did not really kill, nor eat.

Or if one was of the view that she did, it was not at all like an animal did.

Therefore, the true picture of force in this forest likely looked as:

'Lost' Deku Tree Million Fang Marno.

Surely Lost is the most significant and cowing being for the people here.

Now, 'Lost' was preoccupied with Sir Link. And Sir Link was away, preoccupied with 'Lost'.

If I were a wolf, or any hunter in general at all, it would certainly be best to approach while the big and strong complication was preoccupied.

It was not a proud way to go about things, but then outside of organizing masses of people, pride had a limited utility.

In this forest, utility was pride. Pride was utility.

"Highness!" My general salutes. "Your orders have been conveyed."

"The water?" I ask.

"My men are bringing it."

"I'll meet them outside." Clothes almost done. Not _done_, done of course.

_Done, _done would take three handmaidens and two hours. Normal done.

* * *

An army is a large thing. Of course, two armies would be an even larger thing. When contemplating things on the scale of an army, it takes a bit of broad-mindedness. For instance, a single soldier may create a bit of a clamour when they move. When that is multiplied by a thousand, or even a few hundred, the clamour can even be noticed transferred through the ground. I recall that we had attempted to enact an early-warning system based on seismology a few years ago. The earth around an army… is always shaking.

Therefore, let us assume that Marno would have an even greater as a greater concentration of weight.

Lets take the water and place them a good distance from each other in the cardinal directions.

It's cheap and dirty, and generally impossible in practice, but if Marno is really as fantastically big as they say, then she should shake the earth. Of course, she is a hunter of the mythical level, and for a hunter there is always the stalk. Even if she stalks well, she is still very heavy.

"General." I address. "Assume defensive formation, facing…"

The water shudders constantly, of course, because as mentioned I am in the middle of two armies.

But there should be something noticeable. A single rippling trend that is different from the uniform hum of soldiers shuffling. What I seek is a singular source.

Ah. "…3 o-clock. Hold fire. Hold heavy fire. Hold cavalry. Hold assault. Hold heavy assault. Hold casting. Brace for surprise."

"Brace for… aye mam."

The ground shakes mightily as my orders are carried out by the Generals. My glasses tip over. Lances and bows at the ready. Everyone waits, eyes upon the treeline, in silence. It seems a phantasmal place, with the radiant moon casting long and haunting shadows upon great trees the likes of which could easily top Hyrule Castle with room to spare. It is a void beyond there. It is a mystery. It is alien.

A dry chuckle shakes the leaves about us.

**"Finally you notice. I wasn't even stalking." **The voice rumbles. She seems amused. And from the treeline emerges an enormous visage, easily two stories tall, of a magically gigantic elk.

It hangs limply, with surprisingly little blood, from the fangs of Great Mother Wolfos Marno. She makes it look meaninglessly small.

The beasts jaws open and the great elk falls limply to the floor. That is when the blood seems able to flow, and a large pool of it expands from that point past the feet of my soldiers.

The beast bares its great fangs and growls briefly. Men fall over. Men scramble away.

I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Have the second lines hold, for Din's sake." I tell my General.

The Terminan General almost issues command for full open-fire, immediately damning us all. Or possibly amusing our visitor. It isn't worth the risk.

I hold up my index and thumb together, ready to snap, with a swallow of rage and a little subterfuge I have I saved all of Termina.

That growl was not a threat. That was a hello. Our defensive stance is also a greeting. It is in Miss Navi's manual. When you meet Marno, it's simple:

She intimidates prepare to defend yourself (try). The extent of this denotes the extent of respect you do you do. So nice to see you. How nice your coat of fur looks today.

Pleasant forest politics in three easy steps. Thank you very much miss Navi.

We did drills for this. I swear we did. I get the impression now that they all thought it was a joke.

I straighten my pleated skirt. I check my Tiara nervously. I attempt to calm my racing heart and keep my eyes open.

This is Link's world. I trust him. I trust Miss Navi. This is Link's world.

Okay.

"Come for me, if I am in trouble." I tell Impa. Where she is currently, I haven't a clue, but I trust she hears me faithfully. "Not before."

The reason I have been brief with Impa and the general, and not told them who I was expecting to arrive, was rather simple. Indeed, I had been short on time, but more than that, I required their current surprise. Because they thought too much. I am too young.

You do not need to understand. Just obey me. That is what they needed to be thinking.

Because, here and now, they have to not meddle and think they have any right to stop me for my own good.

I walk forwards, my soldiers parting obediently before me. Then I walk where no soldiers walk. An interesting privacy screen is laid out on the floor.

The blood is not so obedient as the soldiers. It, of course, does not part. It is gross. It is warm. It is, I notice distantly, ruining my dress.

**"Hmmmm." **Marno rumbled. **"I am, of course, familiar with having the greatest instincts within this forest. But your senses of threat seem truly pathetic. If this is 'man' then I hardly see what the big commotion was about. You haven't really evolved since last I saw you." **And then she took a great sniff that threatened to drag my nearest knights towards her. Of course, they were very disinclined to that so they fought hard to hold their positions. **"I came with a little gift, for the Forest's child." **Marno said. **"I felt the Forest to be preoccupied and so I thought I would come along. She does not appreciate me meddling with her children, so jealously she keeps them. But by the scent he or she is gone." **

It wasn't instinct. It was a rough parody of it though science. If we relied on what instinct we had we'd still be looking for avian enemies right now.

I won't tell her that. I am grateful if she will underestimate us that much. She hunts down that she holds in high esteem.

That said, we can't have too low of an esteem either.

Ah, the lovely tightrope of foreign politics, we meet again. You're as useless and unfortunate an existence as ever.

Thankfully, Marno seems to see fit to grab the giant prey by the neck, and drag it backwards into the void of the dark of the forest. Then she returns to stand before me, but the blood still matts the fur around her mouth.

"How… How do you do." I greet. I would like to curtsey but I can't. I am stiff as a board. It is here that my ruse falls apart. Clever running away is not courage, because clever running away cannot help you when the source of your fear is right before your eyes. I cannot busy myself. I am preoccupied with being afraid. "S-So nice to see you. How nice your coat of fur looks today."

**"It is rather nice." **Marno agreed. She seemed remarkably used to receiving that compliment. **"I cleaned it this morning because I thought I might die today."**

"How…" I say in wonder, because it is something I cannot comprehend readily. "Why…"

**"The last time I saw a forest child, it was more than a thousand seasons ago."**

Seasonal time... 1000/4 = 250+ years.

Ah. The Fairy War.

**"I had met a little pup, and at the time I hadn't been interested, but it left and came back a truly bloody wolf that anyone would have been proud to have borne." **Marno mused.** "And I remember thinking, what an evolution. Lately, I have been wondering… I wonder if the reason I never could find Million Fang was because the Forest was hiding it. I wonder. It has been some time. Could it kill me now? Could I still kill it? I want to kill it. I want to try. Hey…. Where did it go?"**

This chill… is running down my spine. I had thought we were within this cordial conversation, and in a way we still were. And yet I can feel this thing called killing intent, and I feel it heavy in the air like a heavy wraith. And on hearing that she wants to hunt Sir Link, and most likely kill even him, something takes hold in me. A familiar and burning emotion that rudely bullies everything else into a corner. It serves a great use here tonight. "He's gone to see his mother. Was that your plan? You didn't let us in here for us, but for the kokkiri accompanying us?"

She even brought a present! How easily is she taking this endeavor of hers?!

And slowly, Marno lowered herself until she was resting in a crouch, staring at me with her glaring yellow eyes. And, though they say wolfos are totally incapable of smiling – that they lack the necessary facial muscles for it – I felt certain that she was doing so. **"It is the greatest joy for a hunter, when pray wanders voluntarily into its hunting ground."**

"Do you realize… what it is you're talking about?" I ask.

I thought she was a terror. She's worse.

She's mad. She's insane.

"To hunt a kokkiri, purposefully like that?!" I ask, my voice rising. "When you know so well this forest? Such a betrayal?! You would make 'Lost' your enemy! It's the forest! You're a wolf!" I protest. That's insane. "It's not something you can win against! Even if you won, you'd loose!" I implored. "You can't just go around _killing _your own_ ecosystem!_"

**"Yes."** She seems to ignore me. **"Perhaps… it's her. Perhaps…** **the forest is** M**illion Fang." **Marno said. **"I have thought this as well."**

"Why are you doing this? Even if Million Fang exists, all it's doing is existing! If so after all this time, then you're simply not to its taste! It's not after you! Are you engaging for pride?!"

**"I am doing this for fear!"** Marno roared. **"I am doing this, for this ceaseless itch! This damn threat. This aching, sore, heart – weary! Weary of wondering! Weary of waiting! Weary of this preserved state, which has never changed! This state of mortality! ****I, too, want to know what it's like! I, too, want to feel that thing called 'rest'! **Something... Something has to change." 

I stare at her. She's really mad. She's been driven mad by this relentless fear. No, by frustration. She wants Link now. Too many women want Link! Lillian's trouble enough. This one wants to kill him, or eat him, or possibly have him kill her. I am unclear. Either way, he is too popular. But she's so big. We can't match her, I'm sure of it. With raw firepower, we may be able to do some damage, but when placed in front of her I can understand something else. The Sword of Courage, or the Fang in this case, really is supreme in combat. I am cowed. My army is cowed. She is alert. She will dodge all the salvos. She will flank, or kite, or engage us with invincible hit-and-run tactics. I feel that we will not hit her. I know that we will not hit her. Battle is not about numbers, or armaments. Battle, at the core of what it really is, is a verb. We will take action, and she will take action, but we alone will stumble about it and we will all die.

I can taste defeat before we begin. Somehow, somewhere, we will lose. It would be unnatural for us to win.

But she can't have Link. She can't have him. No one can have him. Burn, burn, burn. Burn the fear. Burn the indecision. It will work out. It is going to be all right. Din did not craft the world out of anything but simple rock. Nayru did not add any laws to the universe that would play favorite against you. The world is not complicated. We are complicated. Surely, if you consume what is bogging you down, if you feed it to the embers of desperation and longing, there is something around you that will resolve everything neatly. Be _desperately besotted_, and do so. "By the way, do you know why we enter your forest?"

**"Excuse me?" **

Yes. I have it. I have grasped it just now. Something more terrible than all the fangs in the world. A clever idea. "Marno the Huntress, I hear you are undisputed amongst the whole world, but there is a fallacy in that statement. There is a gap."

**"Explain."**

I curtsied obediently. "We have come to pass through your territory to do battle with one who threatens our own territories. There is another entire world, very like this one, and a wizard stands there wielding great and terrible power. This Wizard has brought several foul beings into creation. Large monsters that were crafted according to his tastes and needs."

**"There was a flying snake some time ago."** The wolfos agreed. **"It flew above my head before I could catch it. Indeed it was large. Another whole world?"**

Volvagia? No, if it came through this forest then from Termina. We never did confirm its identity.

Perhaps it had been Termina's Volvagia, awoken and bound, or simply a creation by Avernus after all.

"I am certain that with your keen nose, you must some hidden scent not native to our reality on some of the men here. Now you know the cause. Let us posit that you could not find Million Fang for the same reason he never found and hunted you." I explain. "You were separated by the fabric of space itself."

**"I see."** Marno said, her tail swaying once. I have her.** "I see. Even when I felt weak, he never came for me. I see."**

"Maybe he was looking for you, but he couldn't find you." I explain. "Maybe he's looking for you now. Maybe that's why he's sending things to Hyrule."

Nonsense. Utter foolishness. To begin with, Avernus was born too late. Marno felt Million Fang's prescence from hundreds of years ago. At least 250+. Probably in the thousands. Million Fang, probably, would be either humanity or the great ender of things, that which cannot be objected to, time itself.

But either explanation would not serve me, and certainly it would not appease Marno either.

I feel strongly that… this is what she wants to hear.

I think… she couldn't bear it if the one she was so terrified of was not equally preoccupied with her in one way or another.

She has a deep relationship with someone she's never met. I couldn't imagine…

There is pride in her. Even though she's a feral beast that embraces nature, there is pride. Whatever she might say, there is pride. She's too old, therefore there is pride where they oughtn't be. Inconvenient pride.

**"Take me to him."**

"We must have an agreement, Miss Marno." I explain. "We must swear before the goddesses."

**"No."**

"We shall take you to Avernus, as best we can. Quite happy for you, since for all your years in this forest you have never once found a path to the other world. We offer you this valuable service, but you must promise not to eat us or harm us, or otherwise impede any of our party. You must bind yourself to this."

**"I shall do no such thing."**

"And when Sir Link, the Kokkiri with us," I clarify, "returns, you must not harm him. You must certainly not harm him. For the rest of his life, you must exempt him from your sight, in particular. That is the cost of this transaction, I will accept no other."

**"Let me make this clear. Even though I have been speaking to you plainly, I am bigger than you."** Marno spoke. **"I am stronger. I am better in the art of death. I do not need to make any bargains with anyone but the Forest. You, I will force to do my will."**

"You cannot." I disagree. "Your attempt will not hold."

**"You are weak. You are afraid. You shiver as a leaf in a great storm, and I can smell the terror coating your furless skin. Do you think, that I, Marno, will be unable to strike your heart clean through with terror?"**

"Indeed you may. As your nose faithfully reports, I am already struck right through with terror. Furthermore, I'm not very brave. I have not followed the concept of bravery as profoundly as I'm sure you have. But that is because I am a Nayrunite. I hold that a force greater than fear or courage exists, has always existed, and will exist tomorrow as well."

**"Insolence! None exists to rival fear! Fear commands all life, even I!"** Marno stomps a paw. The world shakes.

I look at her right in her large golden eyes. I step forwards, reach up, and grasp her bloodsoaked fur. "Listen to me, Marno the Huntress, for it is my turn to complain now, and I shall be candid only with you, for I know that you don't really care. I am in _love_. I'm in love with a boy I barely know and it's driving me crazy, an _itch_ I can't scratch. An _ache_ I can't sate, deep in the least sensible part of my heart. When he laughs I feel like I might _die_. When he sighs I feel like I might _kill_ something. My head is full of him. He un-monarchs me. My honor, my pride, my responsibilities, all have been corroded, and I can't bring myself to want to stop it. I am increasingly certain that he is a great hero more than capable of resolving my country's worries, and I try my best to ignore that fact. To edge that train of thought from my mind, for no reason save I don't think he'd _appreciate_ it. I am doing wrong by millions of people who count on me. He reduces me to a woman. An angry, violent, jealous, _scorned_ woman. But I love him, I love him, I love him, and _fuck the world._"

I wonder what I just said. I wonder who said the words that have spilt out of my mouth.

I wonder if I can take them, any of them, back.

I know that I cannot.

**"You're in heat." **Marno attempted to summarise.

I grit my teeth. What a thing to say! What a-! "Something like that." I ground out.

**"Very in heat."**

Shut up!

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

"If that makes it easier to understand." I force myself to say.

Link must never hear of this.

Scratch that. Everyone here, who I'm sure is able to make out Marno's half of our conversation due to that booming voice… Everyone gets a Shiekan memory wipe. I swear there will be memory wipes!

**"Damn."** Marno muttered. She reared back, onto her haunches, bringing her above the abnormally massive treeline and making her seem even more intimidating. She reached up with a hind leg and briefly scratched behind her great ear. Then she came to rest and seemed to weigh her chances at forcing me into her bidding. In the end she looked dissatisfied. **"… I swear…"** It was a profound relief to hear her say this.** "…upon the name of our Great Mother. I swear upon all that she has given to me. I swear upon the beating of my heart. I swear upon the water that quenches my thirst. I swear upon the wind that lulls my tortured mind to sleep. I swear upon the noble sacrifice of the prey I consume. Lead me to this man, that I may kill him, or I may be killed by him, and I shall turn my hunter's gaze from your clan and your guest, the Forest Child in particular, as required."**

"I also swear." I agree. "I swear upon the name of the Great Founder of Harmony. Upon all that she has given to me. I swear upon the justice that allows me to live day by day. I swear by the five statutes of Hyrule and the six paths of enlightenment. I swear by the crown on my head. I swear by the order of law that calms me and the chaos of love that excites me. I shall lead you to Avernus, and bring you back home. Let this agreement be known and witnessed. Let it be sealed in faith and trust. Let whosoever breaks this solemn pact never again take comfort or claim right to any of the gifts listed."

Yes. Indeed, I really have just bartered with a giant, ancient wolf for something that I want, by offering to help her in a task that I ought to pay her to do. And all it will really cost me is a ruined dress that I never really liked anyway, and the necessary ingredients for a some Shiekan Mind-wipes..

Yes, I have secured a foothold in relations with this nebulous place by bartering in alignment with the interests of 'Lost', an approximate Queen of this region. I have secured a working relationship with the more military power of the forest, Marno. I have secured a promise that Marno shall not come after us if she ever suspects humanity of being her 'Million Fang'. I have potentially solved Termina's Wizard problem completely, without the need for any Hero or Goddess at all - which is helpful since I never did figure out that holy golden sword, or the legend. And I have saved my... you know. I saved him. At least I saved him from a lot of trouble. I know how disdainful he is about trouble.

Ahem.

Yes, thank you very much.

Yes, my name is indeed Zelda and yes, I know, I really am that good.

* * *

A/N: Zelda's chapters might all be like that... as in: needlessly wordy and philosophical. Maybe it seems like I'm on a philosophy hike right now. I'm not, really, as an individual. This stuff was always there, in the background of the setting in my head, for a long-ass time. I put it to paper why? Because originally Lillian was going to throw her Deku-nut and call Link, he'd be pissed, and I'd do another fight scene. Taking a fight-scene break. Marno's more interesting alive than dead.

Also, Zelda needed some love. I was going to awaken her triforce powers here as well, but forget that. It only sounds cool in my head. In reality, if I were to put it on paper, it would be corny and contrived, and make relationships 100% less interesting.

So now it feels like all the problems are solved, except really they've just been moved around a bit. And of course this was never a story where Avernus was really that big of a deal, anyways.

Reviewsors.


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